the peak intergenerational movements issue volume 53 issue 4 spring 2014
free take one
The Peak Volume 53 Issue 4 Spring 2014
On the Web: www.guelphpeak.org The Peak Magazine University Centre Rm 258 University of Guelph Guelph, Ont. N1G 2W1
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table of contents Introductions Introducing... 2 Intergenerational Movements
Intergenerational Movements The Peak Collective
Intergenerational Movements Cycles of Hurt 4 Anonymous Organizing With Youth: An 6 Interview With Dylan Powell Part 1 Talking About Ageism 10 in Our Movements: An Interview With Sterling Stutz On the Land 12 The Importance of Adults 18 Friends & Mentors in a Child’s Life A Guilt-Free Winter: Reflections on Burnout Leaving: An Interview With Andréa Schmidt Keep Going: My Experiences of Radical Parenting Stepping Back: An Interview With Matt Soltys Committing... For Better & for Worse: An Interview With Mandy Hiscocks
The Peak The Peak
Alex Hundert Matt Soltys
News from the Front Lines Spring News Briefs: 43 January 9th to March 17th, 2014
Feliciano 46
Why are We Here to Die? 51
Alex Hundert Allison Parker Amber Holland Andréa Schmidt Bryan Hill byron. Chrissy Swain Class Hatred David Rees Devyn Dylan Powell
Raul Gatica Richard Laviolette
Tom Dusome
The Peak
28 Meme 29
Matt Soltys
30
The Peak
Analysis The Living Grey: How do 52 Talya We Think About Venezuela?
Reviews The Dirt Chronicles 56 e.war Burn Pile 56
Contributors
Bryan Hill, Peggy Karamazov & Allison Parker
Arts & Culture
My Grandma’s 48 More Punk
20 Devyn 22
Organizing With Youth: An 35 The Peak Interview With Dylan Powell Part 2 A Day in the Life 38 Anonymous, of Parents Gertrude Callaghan, Papa P. & Mia Changes 40 Anonymous
Edmond Jack Emilio e.war Gertrube Callaghan Jenn Jim Swain Lil’ J Mandy Hiscocks Matt Soltys Meme Mia
Nicky Young Papa P. Peggy Karamazov Raul Gatica Richard Laviolette Ryan Sterling Stutz Stefan Pilipa Talya Tom Dusome
Amber Holland
Cover “Kagawong” by Bryan Hill Inside Cover “Toronto Blockade on March 12th, 2014” by Nicky Young Inside Back Cover “Support Tyendinaga Blockade Arrestees” Design by Bryan Hill Art by Stefen Pilipa
Introduction
Introducing... Intergenerational Movements
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his spring, we are taking a look at intergenerational communities and networks of supports and struggle. By looking at the ways our movements welcome and do not welcome folks of all ages and locations, we hope to take part in a conversation about building long-term, sustainable cultures of resistance that are inclusive of families, caretakers, young people and elders. Part of this culture-building comes from learning about the triumphs and mistakes of past generations, while making space for new ones and stepping up to our responsibilities as leaders. Many of the oppressive systems that operate around us function by isolating us from each other. Creating inclusive communities across generations defies capitalist logic of isolation, and allows us to draw from vibrant histories of resistance. From brand-new babies to wise grandmas, this issue aims to share a variety of perspectives on this topic. In this issue we feature a roundtable interview with three generations of a family from Grassy Narrows discussing their traditional trap lines (pg. 12). These pages alse contain musings on the joys and heartaches of committing to long term resistance in Guelph and Southern Ontario; the voices of parents struggling to find community and strength (page 38); and an animal rights activist’s thoughts about organizing with youth (pg. 6); and more. As always, we feature news from struggles across Southern Ontario. Many perspectives are represented here, but even more are missing, like the voices of refugees, people of colour, trans* people, and other communities whose cultures help create intergenerational struggle by an incredible resilience in the face of systemic violence. In the words of Myles Horton, who co-founded the Freedom Schools of the American south, “We are creating the future present for the new generation, from which they will make history. For these reasons, I think it is absolutely indispensable that [we] be secure, capable, and have a capacity for loving and for curiosity.” So read on,
The Peak Collective
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Introducing... Intergenerational Movements 3
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How have generations of hurt affected our friendships today? Our author explores. by Anonymous
’m kicking rocks down the train tracks, mad at myself and feeling terrible for having just yelled at my friend, who was balancing along the rail nearby. They are my best buddy and lover, and mostly we are really good to each other and work hard to break unhealthy dynamics in our lives. So what’s going on with me right now? Why did I just yell at them? And where does this scary, hopeless feeling come from? It worries me deeply that, despite all we try and how hard we work to break away from the unhealthy things we’ve learned from the media or our parents about what relationships are ‘supposed’ to be like, we somehow repeat these ugly cycles in our relationships. We step over a pile of creosote-soaked logs and dip carefully under the wire fence at the place the coyotes have dug out. Standing on an abandoned fuel storage tank, the seeping feeling of hopelessness rises in me again, mixing potently with my recollection that the groundwater below my feet carries a toxic plume from the plastics fire that happened up the road 17 years ago. I recall that at that time, I was living in a family where yelling was commonly a default form of communication. The land here has been poisoned for so long, and the ways we are raised can also be poisonous... I do not hold these acknowledgements as excuses for acting badly toward my friend. I reject the idea that being hurt is a reason to hurt others. But I also want to ask, “What does it mean to grow up surrounded by so much hurt? If someone had not been hurt, would they still hurt others?” It’s hard to think through this thought-experiment when
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applied to this society, which is already jammed with ideas about things like success, progress, power and survival being excuses to hurt other people. In these cycles, some people keep hurting, and some keep being hurt, too. People are given different opportunities, depending on their power and privilege. Everyone has the ability to hurt others, but those with more power and privilege have a greater ability to do so. Some take advantage of their privilege to hurt, some don’t. As well, everyone can be hurt, but those with less privilege are more vulnerable. Those who hurt others are perpetuating deeper cycles of hurt that permeate this culture. This is not to excuse hurtful behaviour, but an understanding of the cyclical nature of violence is critical if we seek to confront violence and oppression in society. I am full of some pretty poisonous ideas about relationships. I’m taught that other people are owners of my body and about how to be a possession. I’m taught that loving someone involves control over them. It takes work to look inside ourselves and figure these things out, to unlearn hate and violence. My eyes settle on the branching patterns of a half-eaten sumac berry bunch, smiling at the thought that this pattern is mirrored in the alveoli sacs we carry in our lungs. I take a deep breath and tell my friend that I’m sorry. I ask my friend, “how are you feeling?” We have lots of practice treating each other well, making it an active intention every day. It’s so relieving that a relationship can be about taking care of each other. It can be about gentleness, support, tenderness,
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We seek to decipher these cycles so as to break free of them, to not blame others for our experience of being hurt. Out on the train tracks, we sit with these thoughts and feel resilient, even as we face the smoke stacked skyline and the huge amount of hurt and violence that exists — and is accelerating — in this world. safety, what feels good, whatever comes up. We give each other permission to be free, to have other lovers. We give each other permission to find ourselves, which includes the dark and broken parts of us, too. We encourage reflection and change. Having this safe, strong base makes it easier to for us to talk about cycles of hurt and how they impact our relationships. We talk about how complicated it can be to fully grasp these cycles. They are perpetuated through a lack of understanding of all the ways in which oppression and power contribute to our hurts. When we are unable to escape or fight these oppressions and without healthy relationships modelled in our lives, it can leave us not knowing anything else. We seek to decipher these cycles so as to break free of them, to not blame others for our experience of being hurt. Out on the train tracks, we sit with these thoughts and feel resilient, even as we face the smoke stacked skyline and the huge amount of hurt and violence that exists — and is accelerating — in this world. We speak about how painful it can be for us to recognize the ways in which we oppress, hurt or are not sensitive to the feelings of others. It’s easier to avoid self-reflection and self-criticism. These feelings mirror how hard it can be to face the toxic legacies in our communities, our bodies, and on the landscape around us. But it is so brave instead to say, “I can hurt someone, it’s in me, and in fact, I’ve been taught to hurt others”. These self-acknowledgements make more space to name or call out hurt on a larger scale. They help us feel less trapped in feelings like
fear and shame, which are hard places from which to work towards change. We can name that our neighbour yelling at his wife all day long is not okay, we can name that the way capitalism hurts people is not okay, we can name that generations of colonization has meant nothing less than genocide against Indigenous people. When we understand how our experiences and personal lives can reflect larger systems of oppression, we open our hearts to more possibility and freedom. It involves humility and an acknowledgement of these cycles. I hold hope that these practices are ways to break cycles of hurt. ∆
“We can name that our neighbour yelling at his wife all day long is not okay, we can name that the way capitalism hurts people is not okay, we can name that generations of colonization has meant nothing less than genocide against indigenous people. When we understand how our experiences and personal lives can reflect larger systems of oppression, we open our hearts to more possibility and freedom.”
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Organizing With Youth: An Interview With Dylan Powell Part 1 by The Peak
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ylan Powell is an organizer in St. Catharines, Marineland?” Can we go to Marineland? Can we Ontario. Co-Founder of Marineland go to Marineland?” Animal Defense, #OurScars and the Live We didn’t want to be bogged down with Free Collective, Dylan is active in the animal and conflicts common in activist circles, such as ego earth liberation movements, as well as involved in and animosity around tactics so it was easy for us to solidarity organizing with the Haudenosaunee of say, “It’s not going to be the activists who’re going the Grand River, the migrant justice advocacy com- to shut down the facility, it’s going to be the kids.” munity and at risk youth in the Niagara Region. Kids are playing a central role in opposing the park Dylan is a graduate of Brock University (Honours right now and have been for a very long time. History) and a current Addiction Education stuKids have a reaction to animal captivity that’s dent at McMaster University in Hamilton. Dylan very emotional they look and see a lone orca in a has lectured and spoken across North America tank and start crying. It’s not academic based, it’s and runs workshops on youth advocacy and radi- not steeped in all these theories of tactics and stratcal politics. egy, it’s visceral. So for us, focusing on the kids just Marineland Animal Defense (MAD) is a made so much sense. campaign of concerned individuals determined to end animal captivity at Marineland. As a result You said that kids have been playing a central of his involvement in MAD, Dylan is currently role in the organizing. Can you be a little more the target of a 1.5 million dollar SLAPP suit by specific? What kind of organizing have they Marineland Canada. SLAPP stands for Strategic been taking on? Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and the legal- The Marineland Animal Defense campaign began in ity of these lawsuits is currently being reviewed by 2011. We didn’t have a lot in the way of intentional the Ontario Legislative Assembly. strategies at that point in youth advocacy, but we did try to create different types of spaces. So if the You’ve said in the past that it will be kids and police,park owner or staff were going to be particunot adults who will shut down Marineland. larly hostile we’d basically create two scenarios: one Why do you say that? side where people who were able to be in that kind A lot of it has to do with recognizing that the of situation were, and another camp where people target audience of a captive animal facility like could be where they’d generally be left alone. Marineland, or really any other captive animal That lasted for about a year, and while we facility, is youth. The commercials are built upon did have families and kids involved throughout, youth identities —there are youth in the crowds, they felt comfortable coming, but they were put there are youth being kissed in this area to hold signs. We by animals — and they’re thought that was great, it’s a Kids have a reaction to being shown predominantly step up from having no stratanimal captivity that’s very on networks where they’re egy whatsoever for including expecting children to watch. families or children, but it emotional — they look and Ninety percent of the wasn’t terribly empowering see a lone orca in a tank and for kids. revenue of captive animal start crying. It’s not academic facilities like Marineland is In 2012, we started ticket sales. A large portion based, it’s not steeped in all getting a lot of news coverof that is contract based with age. We moved down across these theories of tactics and schools through end of the sight line from where people year programs and classes, strategy, it’s visceral. So for walked into the park and we and with summer camps and got louder, we got rowdier, us, focusing on the kids just programs. Marineland recand we noticed that it was made so much sense. ognizes that kids drive their actually kids who were the business; that kids drive the most impassioned —leading revenue, create the demand, force the parents to and creating chants, making the best signs, creating take them, and put schools in situations where they themes for demonstrations. will take kids to this park which obviously has no For the most part everyone who was involved educational value. had this idea that kids were just passively present. Parents are ultimately going to make the Because the crowds were big and because we didn’t decision whether or not to take their kids there, have a lot of structure it allowed for youth to claim but they want to create the demand and start it space; that year there was a whole bunch of activity. with the youth so kids are asking their parents — Kids were writing to local papers, giving speeches basically begging their parents —“Can we go to at their schools and talking to their teachers and Organizing With Youth: An Interview With Dylan Powell Part 1 7
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principals. A lot of them got Marineland Canada it was the largest animal advocacy demonstration and all captive animal facility trips dropped from in Canada since 1984, and it was super powerful school contracts. Then on October 7th 2012, there and really great. was a mass civil disobedience. A couple of hundred We’ve continued throughout to make that people entered the park and shut down the final space for kids to be at the front of what’s going on. dolphin show of the year. A lot of those people were We give them the space to criticize what’s going on actually kids. with our campaign or tactics, how things look, what So at the end of that season we sat back and we’re doing theme-wise, what chants get said, all took stock. We said “Look, kids are the target audi- these other things. ence, kids are major players as far as leading any kind There’s a perception, at least in the commuof opposition to this park.” For us as a campaign, we nity that I’m from and the communities that I tend can’t go into schools and say “Hey, we think you to work with, that it’s somehow improper to influshould drop this park” because then we’ll be up on a ence other people’s kids in a political way. There’s whole bunch of civil litigation dealing with contract this idea that parents are the only ones who should law and destruction of their contracts and so on. But instill values in their kids. these kids were taking it upon themselves, so we really wanted to make a space for them to not only So who are these kids you work with? They be able to be present, but actually to lead a demo. would ask questions like how do they find When we opened the season in May 2013 we out about this stuff? Do they come with their had a demonstration of about a thousand people parents? Have they just heard about it? How and all of the speakers were kids. Kids actually does MAD actually conduct outreach to kids? set the theme — we had an origami whale theme In response, I would tie it back to the different because of one kid, Vijay. An ancient Japanese stages that I already talked about: making space, legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand kids claiming space, and then putting kids right origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, out front. In the beginning most of the kids who so Vijay’s goal was to fold one thousand whales so were coming out were with their families. Once kids he would be granted his wish that Marineland be started to actually actively claim space and the issue closed down. The demonstration ended up being the grew, we began to see more kids giving speeches at largest in the history of opposition to Marineland, their high school or elementary school, and more and more kids coming to the demos. It hasn’t really been an intentional strategy on our part to outreach to kids. It’s more about making space for kids to do what they want , to have a platform to speak, to have the support to speak so that they can talk to their peers. I think it’s super disingenuous and it wouldn’t be nearly as effective if we tried to get into elementary or high schools and do that outreach ourselves. I’m 29 years old and I probably am completely out of touch with people that age. As far as outreach strategies, what we have set up right now has been the most successful for us. What are some of the challenges for you as an organizer, or for the organization as a whole, when it comes to working with youth? What are some of the barriers youth face to getting involved? In a lot of corporate-civil litigation and corporate repression you’ll see corporations survey the landscape, sue or get an injunction order against a lot of people, and they’ll basically do their own intelligence gathering and try to find weak links. We didn’t want that to happen, we didn’t want organizers who have families, who have kids, who have jobs that they could potentially lose — who basically
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have a lot on the line — to be the people who would is hard to get youth out because parents are resistant get sued. When this campaign started I was 27 years but when they see kids are committed, gaining skills old, I don’t have kids and being part of a commyself, I’ve got pretty munity as a result of it, We’ve had politicians and other limited means and I’ve you’ll generally see that lived under the threat people show up to demonstrations resistance goes way down. of lawsuits since I was a We’ve caught flak where it’s been an all-kid platform child through a bunch from some people over and try to grab the mic and of history with my own how we’ve included family. So I filled that children. We’ve had advance their own agenda. We’ve role. This is part of us politicians and other always fought back really hard recognizing the barrier people show up to demagainst that and if people try to for families who want onstrations where it’s to get involved. We do been an all-kid platform do those things we basically just everything in our power and try to grab the mic tell them that they’re not really to ensure that nothing and advance their own welcome and that they can go comes down on kids or agenda. We’ve always on families. fought back really hard and create their own platform A great example of against that and if people somewhere else. other barriers: Carrie is a try to do those things we youth down here — she’s basically just tell them 14 years old but probably going on 30 years that they’re not really welcome and that they can old — and she’s been really involved in the demon- go and create their own platform somewhere else. strations. Her parents were against her coming to But for the most part it’s been an extremely positive the demonstrations, they didn’t really see the point experience. The largest demonstrations have been of it. She actually spoke at the opening day demon- the ones that have included kids the most, there’s a stration in May 2013 and her mum and dad both big branching out effect when kids are empowered came out and filmed the whole thing. I gave her and take a leading role. mum a hug and she was in tears. She was so proud Continued on page 35 of her daughter for standing up on an issue and speaking in front of all those people. Sometimes it
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Talking About Ageism in our Movements: An Interview With Sterling Stutz Sterling discusses some of the ways ageism within activist movements can lead to disengagement, and the importance of intergenerationality to maintain long term, sustainable resistance. by The Peak What are some obstacles you encounter when you work with people of an older generation? How do they treat you? What are some of the tensions? think I used to encounter more obstacles than I do today, for a variety of reasons. When I first started organizing I was 18 years old, a freshman in college, and had a hard time trusting my own opinions and getting other people to listen to me. I’ve had people disrespect me because of my age. I can remember one time that I was actually told to, “respect my elders”, by someone only a few years older than me. That shook me, disagreeing with me for my opinion is one thing, but that person shutting me down for simply not giving them the respect
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The strongest and most strategic victories are those based on long-term, sustainable campaigns, which are not won in a one, five or even ten year period. We need elders, and youth in our fight if we are ever going to accomplish anything noteworthy. 10 The Peak Intergenerational Movements
they thought they deserved for being born a bit earlier than me made me feel extremely uncomfortable and devalued. We need to stop demanding respect from those that are younger than us. Respect is something that is built; it cannot be demanded. It never felt good when after I said something, someone responded with “Oh wow you’re so young!” I didn’t like being reminded of how young I was. Sure I was younger than most people in the room, but I also had all sorts of other experiences and thoughts that weren’t wrapped in the number of years I had been on this planet. I love working with and learning from people who are more experienced. I feel really grateful to have worked, and continue to work, with so many strong and committed people. Hearing their stories and experiences has helped to shape my political analysis, helping me to learn from past struggles and lessons. What do you think of people who used to be radical/militant/committed and are not any longer? Why do you think they are not as involved as they used to be? What do you think about what they’re doing now? I think that radical organizing, as it exists in southern Ontario at least, is fairly unsustainable, and I have no judgement to those who have decided that they either cannot or do not wish to continue their work in the same way they did. Nor do I think necessarily that there is only one way that a committed activist
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or organizer interacts with the world, and everything outside of that is less legitimate. I think that there are any number of ways to remain committed to political struggles that arn’t the typical going to meetings and attending events that we normally see in organizing communities. As people’s lives change, so do their commitment levels and possibly their interests in different issues and tactics. Hopefully any changes are based in personal interests, and remaining involved in other ways, and not for lack of support in becoming a parent, or financial necessity. Political organizing can be really difficult, traumatic and unsustainable. I have seen that just in the six years since I started organizing. I think that we need to build more supportive movements, more intergenerational movements. Too many people are leaving political organizing because they don’t have support with their kids, and that’s not a good enough reason. That’s a fault on the rest of us, for not getting it together enough. I think there’s work that can be done, but I also think that we aren’t going to get anywhere if we judge people who decide they want to take a break or stop organizing. People need to be free to make their own decisions, and hopefully they will have the support they need to continue the meaningful work we are all engaged in.
If we really value creating an intergenerational movement, then we will stop valuing things like productivity (a very capitalist value) over things like children and stop valuing experience over learning.
Is it important that communities and/or struggles or movements be intergenerational? Why or why not? The best advice I think I got as I started organizing was to listen to people who have been doing this longer than you have and take what they say to heart. If we do not have an intergenerational movement, we are doomed to keep making the same mistakes. We need to build on the work of those that have come before us, not simply ignore it as ‘outdated’. The strongest and most strategic victories are those based on long-term, sustainable campaigns, which are not won in a one, five or even ten year period. We need elders, and youth in our fight if we are ever going to accomplish anything noteworthy.
be really important, and they might not have been able to attend otherwise. The meeting will likely still be able to accomplish tasks, but maybe take a bit longer.
Are there communities you’ve worked with in which people of all ages, and people with and without kids, manage to work together? How do they do it? Why do you think it’s so hard for so many of us? I think it takes a change of values. If we really value creating an intergenerational movement, then we will stop valuing things like productivity (a very capitalist value) over things like children and stop valuing experience over learning. Willingness to have children in meetings, coloring in the corner or sitting on laps, often adds a sense of chaos to meetings and can sometimes take away from a group’s productivity. But for that parent or guardian to be able to attend that meeting with their child might
What do you think causes people to drop out of activism/organizing? I think that we often do not talk enough about trauma in organizing and the toll that takes on fostering unsustainability in our organizations. The work that many of us are engaged in is exhausting and difficult and heart-breaking, and there are often few opportunities to attempt to heal ourselves. Battling against the oppressive forces in the world, while also worrying about personal problems such as making rent, family life, personal relationships, etc, is a lot to carry for each of us. And sometimes that means people need a break, sometimes that mean people cannot carry on, and I think that’s ok. We cannot have a truly sustainable, intergenerational movement without creating the space for people to say “I am not okay” or, “I need a break” or, “I don’t want to do that anymore.” No matter what that means for the other people in their communities, we need to be able to be honest about ourselves as people if we are going to accomplish anything. It is absolutely necessary for our priorities to shift from a focus on productivity to healing, otherwise we are simply applying capitalist values (just like the respect mentioned earlier in this interview) to our own organizing and exacerbating the problem. ∆
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Intergen. Movements The Peak
On the Land A Grassy Narrows family talks about the history and future of their relationship with trapline and the lands of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek Territory. Interview by Alex Hundert Introduction
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n February 9th, 2014, Maryanne Swain finally received word from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) that she had been approved as the new title holder for trapline KE056, located in Ontario Forestry Management Unit (FMU) #490, also known as the Whiskey Jack Forest. The Whiskey Jack Forest roughly overlaps with the Traditional Territory of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek, also known as Grassy Narrows First Nation, and has been more or less protected from industrial logging for over a decade by the longest standing blockade in the country. In April of this year, the MNR’s ten year Forestry Management Plan (FMP) for the Whiskey Jack Forest comes into effect, which means that for the first time
since the blockade went up in 2002, the heart of Grassy Narrows Territory in northwest Ontario is under immediate threat from industrial-scale clearcut logging operations. A March 1st statement from a new Grassy Narrows Youth Group says, “The new clearcutting plan threatens our home, including lands that our decade long blockade has protected. Our community’s leadership, both grassroots and Band Council, have firmly rejected the new cut plan and contested the Government’s right to make decisions regarding our Territory.” One of the two Youth organizers quoted in the statement is Edmond Jack, Maryanne Swain’s grandson. His mother, Maryanne’s daughter, is Chrissy Swain, a former Grassy Narrows Youth leader and a founding member of the Grassy
Narrows Women’s Drum Group, who, along with one of her sisters, is often credited with the act of starting the blockade back in the winter of 2002. She is a tireless land defender and advocate for her community. Jack, in the Youth Group Statement, says, “Not only does the plan threaten my family trapline, but it also threatens the traditional knowledge of future generations who cannot yet speak for themselves.” Trapline KE056 falls on the south shores of Keys Lake, a pristine, spring-fed lake that was spared from the industrial mercury poisoning of the river system in the 1960s, from which new generations in Grassy Narrows continue to suffer. This past summer, as part of the Annual Grassy Narrows Youth Gathering, there was a day-long blockade of the roadway
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to Keys Lake, and a declaration of the long-term It gave me a sense of relief to know that I’ll intent on the part of the community’s Youth and have that when I get older. grassroots land defenders to protect the lake. The area where that trapline is, that lake The FMP has six separate cut blocks sched- The water there is the cleanest water that we have uled for clearcutting within the Swain family tra- today. None of our other lakes are as clean as that pline, and another six in the adjacent trapline. One one, because of all the spring water streams that of the clearcut blocks will tear out the heart of the go into it. Swain’s trapline, spanning from Keys Lake to the The reason that the sturgeon are so sacred neighbouring Tom Lake. Others appear, from the is because when they swim at the bottom, people available maps, to engulf at least two of the natural would pray to the sturgeon and honour it like one of springs that feed Keys Lake. our own people. They can’t walk on the land like we Ontario’s new ten year logging plan will clear- can, but they stay under the water near the bottom cut over 500 square kilometres of the Whiskey Jack of the lake, and they’re kind of like the ones who Forest, with over fifty percent of Grassy Narrows look after the land under there. They’re not much lands having already been previously logged. different from us. They know medicines that we I had the opportunity to sit down with could never reach, probably. And he also said that Chrissy Swain, 34 year old, and Edmond Jack,19 whole area is, like my mum said, a place for healing year old, as well as with Maryanne’s father, 78 year and medicines, where people would go and find old Jim Swain, to ask about the trapline — land to that medicine that they need to clean themselves which the family has been connected for as long as out. There are all kinds of cedar that grows around they can remember. I consider myself tremendously there. It’s just a really beautiful place. privileged to have had the opportunity to conduct I remember my grandpa telling me that these interviews, write this article, and work with people would go over there and fast on an island this family. To all of the Swains and their families, close by there, where they would go and drop off a miigwetch. young person who was going through their rites of During these interviews, I asked about the passage. They would sit there for four days… . There process of (re)claiming the trapline, its history, and are lots of things that I’ve heard about Keys Lake. the significance of its being brought back into active For me, it’s just a really sacred area. use by the family. The trapline that my grandma got is right on Keys Lake. It’s almost like an asset or something, to Interview be able to use that place… I’d just really like to be Chrissy Swain: I know that the area that [my mom] able to really take after the lake and keep it as clean asked for, she asked for it because we have family as I could. history there. My grandfather was living there as a Jim Swain: I don’t know exactly how it started… kid, and I think she had to get affidavits to prove how would I go about [explaining] that? that our family was in that area. When Maryanne decided that she would [I just know] stories that my grandpa told, find out if it was possible for her to apply., they of him being a kid over there. One of the stories he wanted its history, the trapline. But we didn’t know told was about how one time his mom sent him for where to start. So, when I went to Kenora to talk sugar, and that’s where he had to walk from, from to the person, he said, “how much do you know there to the Hudsons Bay [store], and he slept with about it?” a relative close by and then the next day walked all I said, “My grandfather owned it, owned the the way back to there. trapline, and worked it for a while, for years.” [Keys Lake and that area] is probably just Before that though, [there was an old guy one of the places [his family] stayed. Our people from the community] who had [the trapline on] were everywhere. Scenic Lake already, he owned it. And he asked I’ve heard some stories about that area being my grandpa if they could trade traplines, and at a sacred place, that that place was healing because the same time he offered some money, not much. of the spring where the water comes from the earth That’s how it started… That’s when they signed the into that lake, and the medicine that’s all around agreement. It kept the old man happy. And after that that lake. And people used to do ceremonies there, [Scenic Lake] passed on to my Dad and my uncle, and it’s an area where people went fasting. Those and then I owned it after. I don’t know how many are the kinds of things that I heard about that place. years we trapped there. Edmond Jack: I’ve got my trappers’ certificate, and So they asked me the questions, and I said, I think that when the time comes that my grandma “I was there. I know the area very good.” won’t be able to use it anymore, then I will be the I told them that it would be great if one of one who takes that trapline in my name. us could get it back.
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I said, “how would I go about it?” He said, in the bush…. The more that “write an affidavit.” I didn’t know anything about we try to enforce these things affidavits. But anyway, they explained to me how to in our community, if we can write it, even though I made a mistake. The lawyer bring back our ceremonies and who looked at it said, “you were supposed to do that our other, more down-to-earth in front of me, not on your own.” “I’ve never done ways of living, I think it would this before,” I said. But anyway, they accepted it. bring a lot of good things into And [the “white guy”] was also fighting for it, the community. he almost got it. But after about a year, they called Jim Swain: I always liked that Maryanne and they were happy with the affidavits, area. But then, it was good to so that’s how she got that trapline. see different places. It wasn’t Other than that, I don’t know what sort of long before I got to know things to tell you, but we did a lot of trapping at what that guy gave us — Scenic Keys Lake when I was young. [Lake]. I was really young that We went all around that area, all the way back time. to Wonderland [Lake]. There used to be Caribou in It seemed like it used to that area. But after the road came, and other things, be, for me anyways, it seemed to they went further north. be a lot of freedom. There was It was hard, really, for me [to tell them about no vehicles, there was nothing Keys Lake specifically], because I’ve been all over the or anything going by. Then all of place. I trapped with my Uncle in Wilcox [Lake]. a sudden, when the roads came Then I went with my brother in Kilburn [Lake]. in, that kind of… I don’t know, By paddle it used to take two weeks to get up there. it just seemed too civilized. Then I went with my other uncle to Oak Lake. But I guess I thought about the main one was Keys Lake that she wanted me travelling on frozen ice, or to talk about. making portages, having to cut Anyway, the affidavits helped, and she got it. across — we went through all Now it’s up to her and Ed to look after it. that. Chrissy Swain: I feel confident that my son is Believe it or not, somegoing in the right direction by taking his own times you hear strange noises at initiative and learning to hunt, fish and trap, and night… Of course now it’s getlearn medicines. And I’m confident that he’s going ting, like I said, with too many to use that land in a good way, to teach his kids machinery, that you don’t hear them anymore. You and raise them on the land, because that’s a big used to. part of our ways that’s been missing. It makes me There was one time I was coming out of the proud to hear my son say that he wants to protect house, just at Keys Lake, where the springs open on that place and to keep it as clean as possible for my to the shore there. I heard something, like someone grandchildren and my great-grandchildren. That’s was whistling loud... I stood there for a while and my hope — that those teachings and that way of then walked my way to the shore, and it seemed like life will be carried on. that’s where that sound came from, from the open Edmond Jack: For me, when I do have kids, I could water. It was just a beaver coming up to the surface. only wait until they get older and hope that they And then every time his tail would go up and his would take in everything that I could teach them, head would go up and he’d make that high pitched whatever I know by then, to carry on that way of life. sound — it’s very loud. I don’t really know how to When [future generations] are young, I won’t describe it, but it’s like someone is whistling loud. be able to interact with them as much. But once some of them learn how to do these things, it’s there, in that age group, and it gives me a hope that more That’s what my grandfather young people will take up these things and pick up told me. I was going to go back on lost ways of life. to school. He said, “No, wait There are still a lot of things for people to learn. two years before you go back Our Anishinabe way of life is so shattered; to school. First learn about there are just pieces all over the place. Some places trapping. There won’t be that have the ceremonies, some places have our traditional ways of hunting, some places have our tramany jobs there all the time.” ditional way of living — they know how to survive
It makes me proud to hear my son say that he wants to protect that place and to keep it as clean as possible for my grandchildren and my greatgrandchildren. That’s my hope — that those teachings and that way of life will be carried on.
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Me and my cousin there, at Scenic one eve- that, I got to like where I travelled by myself. The ning, around midnight, we heard what’s called the only thing is that I always made sure that I never got Howling Owl. “What’s that,” he said? “You never caught alone out there in a storm without a cabin. heard that before?” “No,” he said. And I said it But I was just lucky I guess. in Ojibway — it’s a Howling Owl. After we went It would be good for the young fellas to learn, around that bay, that’s where our log cabin was. It I would think anyway. Cause you never can tell: was a good sleep…. there might be a time where These are all the sounds it will be something like the Because of the things that that you hear in the trapline, depression, I don’t know, and I’ve seen growing up and especially in the spring. And at least you’ll be ready for it, if in the fall, I like in the fall, the things that I see now, I you’ve learned to be a trapper. you can hear owls. We used That’s what my grandfather feel like the only way that to sit outside, around the told me. I was going to go fire, and listen to the preda- we can always remember back to school. He said, “No, tors coming out during their wait two years before you go who we are as Anishinabe night hunt. back to school. First learn people is to have this land Keys Lake was one of about trapping. There won’t and be able to use it. the main routes for trappers be that many jobs there all the that came down from furtime.” I got to enjoy trapping. ther up — Sidney Lake, Kilburn. They’d stop by It’s the things that you learn, I guess. I didn’t the Hudson’s Bay then go try to get to Macintosh really make my own snowshoes, but I patched them where the school was. up. I made my own lacings. I learned that. That was I used to have a trapline house that used to be something that surprised me. I didn’t know that I the main stop. They always stopped, sometimes for could — I used to watch how they laced them. One a couple days, and carry on to wherever they were day I was out around Slant Lake area and my snowgoing. I wrote that down [in the affidavit], how the shoes broke, I had to get new lacing. So Denis, he’s trappers used to be, that it was a main route, going my uncle but not too close, he had a moose hide, so I to Sidney Lake and all over the place. fixed it up. No one had shown me, but I’d seen them I think the most interesting part of trapping do it a couple of times, and I did that. Got some was moving — you know when the ice starts break- water and laid it out in the cold, take all the moose’s ing up, and moving away with the current — some- fur out and then scrape it. It comes out nice if it’s times you have to go through that…These were the frozen. I was surprised, it was the first time id tried adventures I remember. it. I did ok the first one, but I did it real good on the [In the future], I don’t think it will be as easy, second. ‘I didn’t know you could mend snowshoes,’ I don’t know how to say it; there’s too many — it’s my uncle said. I didn’t know either. gotten too civilized. There’s so much coming in I told my grandpa, ‘I fixed my snowshoes, no and out of there, at Keys Lake all the way back to one had shown me’. He said, ‘They talk about people Wonderland. And there’s summer cottages over there. having gifts. That’s your gift. No one showed you, I know I really don’t care for it. It’s not like the old you just knew automatically.’ days. You didn’t hardly see anyone on your trapline. Chrissy Swain: What I see is that it’s always been a I was 16 or 17 years old. I travelled by myself fight for our way of life. Because of the things that in mid winter, in mid January, from Anishinabe I’ve seen growing up and the things that I see now, Lake. There were no roads, nothing. I came down I feel like the only way that we can always remember Oak Lake, across that little crossing at Oak Lake who we are as Anishinabe people is to have this land Falls. I knew there was a little trappers’ cabin there and be able to use it. Something that puts that pride but I didn’t know if anyone would be there, and inside of us is being able to go out on the land and I was all by myself, just a young lad. But I made it go out on the lakes and fish and hunt and to be out through there. The people that were there happened in the forest and be able to connect. to be my uncles and they were happy to see me. I do see a big change from when I was a The next morning I was going to go. They said, kid. There are kids that are aware of what’s going ‘You’d better not go, it’s cold out there and you’re not on. People always say that we’ve lost a lot of our dressed right. Yesterday it was warm and you were ways, but I want to stop saying that we’ve lost that, travelling with the sun, but today it’s not like that. because I feel it’s always there, and that’s what we’ve It’ll be nicer tomorrow.’ So I stayed that day and the got to protect is what’s there, for our kids. They next morning I went, and came to Grassy. But after look around and they see people moving and people
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For me doing this isn’t just about protecting the land, it’s about reviving our people, bringing that spirit back to our people. And that’s what’s going to bring the spirit back to our people, is to keep this land. saying this is not right. When I was a kid I don’t remember seeing that. [But] I do remember feeling it: ‘This is not right. Why do we live this way?’ I remember being eight years-old, walking down the road and looking at our houses, saying ‘Why do we have to live like this?’ Because I think I was kind of already aware of what living in a town or a city was like, from visiting my mom, or seeing that they had running water, that the grocery store was right there. And I was like, ‘Why is it harder for us? Why does it feel like this?’
I know there’s a proposed clearcut area right in the middle of our trapline, and I know for sure that they’re not going to cut in there. For me doing this isn’t just about protecting the land, it’s about reviving our people, bringing that spirit back to our people. And that’s what’s going to bring the spirit back to our people, is to keep this land. I see that it’s slowly moving, since the blockade began. There are more young people that are going for their trappers’ licenses, that are interested in being on the land. You see and hear about a lot of young men that are going out in groups, fishing or hunting together. You hear of and know women that are like, ‘let’s go blueberry picking,’ ‘let’s go get cedar.’ So that’s way more than what was in my time. To me, protecting this land is being successful. Even if it’s just little steps, right now today we can say there’s been a little bit more movement. If we keep going, more is going to come for our kids and for our grandchildren. Edmond Jack: I think having that trapline kind of gives me a stronger place to stand. I know there’s a proposed clearcut area right in the middle of our trapline, and I know for sure that they’re not going to cut in there. But if they cut in other places it’s
still going to have an effect. To me, stopping the clearcuts is really important because if they do cut all the places that I’ve seen on that map, a lot of damage is going to be done and it’s just going to make sustaining the trapline harder. Animals that we trap and hunt, they have really big territories — some of them are narrow and long, and some of them are wide. And if you cut one area out then that whole thing is going to change. Some of them are going to leave or die. It would pretty much suck the life dry. Our trapline would be depleted. It would almost be pointless to have a trapline if there’s nothing to do out there. Clearcutting companies come in and when they cut down the trees they’re destroying our way of life. I guess having the trapline makes me feel like I have no choice but to fight.
Conclusion The statement from the Grassy Narrows Youth Group concludes with the following: “Our People have been dealing with the impacts of logging for decades. Our rivers have been poisoned and many traplines have been destroyed. Now, still dealing with mercury poisoning (from the Dryden Paper Mill’s industrial dumping in the 60s), and facing new threats from mining expansion in Asubpeeschoseewagong Territory, the Government is coming back for our trees.
Over the years, Grassy Narrows has been fortunate enough to have support from some Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and organizations in Ontario and across Turtle Island. This spring, that support will likely be more important than ever and Grassy Narrows organizers expect to call on renewed support from allies. Please be ready to answer our call and to back us up.” ∆
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The Importance of Adult Friends & Mentors in a Child’s Life This article speaks to the ways in which developing a long term, consistent relationship with a child can be beneficial for children, caregivers and culture-building. by Matt Soltys
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ransitioning from being a full-time activist to being a full-time primary parent has led me to reflect on the difference between activism and culture-building as ways of meaningfully contributing to the world. Both are necessary. We need social and political action to protect the earth and support people’s freedom. We also need a radically different culture to take root and flourish, to move towards a healthier life on earth. I would like to make a case for non-parents to be friends, role models, and mentors in the lives of the kids they know. Building a healthy, long-term, intergenerational culture involves raising children who will be an antidote to the dominant culture. This responsibility cannot fall to parents alone. For the parents’ sake, parenting comes with challenges that can be alleviated by the support of other adults. Many primary/at-home parents face isolation and a lack of meaningful time with oneself, with their partner, and with other adults. All three of these are vital and having childcare support makes a large impact on the parent’s life. But beyond that, the real beneficiaries are the children who have a wider range of adults in their life to learn from. I have often seen children better absorb a lesson or discipline (that wasn’t your train, these snacks are for sharing for everyone, that kid is still on the slide and if you go down they’ll get hurt, etc.) from an adult other than their parent. Kids are used to their parents telling them what to do and not do, and used to pushing these boundaries. Being informed of boundaries etc. by a respected
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non-parent can sometimes reach a child in a unique way. Children need to learn about the world from a wide variety of people, not just their parents. Also, parents have a lot of chores and work to do. They don’t have the time or energy to provide all the stimulating experiences that young children crave. With a spectrum of adults hanging out with the child, the child has a much wider set of experiences, they see more of the world and more types of human interactions, and thus grow more. I think a long-term consistent relationship with a child is a meaningful way to change the world, but I wouldn’t label it activism. I see it more as culture building, because that child will grow to be shaped by their early experiences, and whether or not they become ‘activists’, they will contribute to a healthier culture.
I think a long-term consistent relationship with a child is a meaningful way to change the world, but I wouldn’t label it activism.I see it more as culture building Imagine a relationship where a loving, fun, engaging, thoughtful adult hangs out with a child on a more or less weekly basis over the course of a few years. This childless adult friend has the energy and time to match the child’s enthusiasm
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and energy level, to go on adventures that instill a sense of wonder and awe, to ask great questions, to temper frustrating dynamics between the child and their parents, and to teach them an infinite variety of things, both directly and indirectly.
Children need to learn about the world from a wide variety of people, not just their parents. Or imagine that instead of a weekly basis, one adult sees the child every two weeks, and one or more adults also have a similar relationship with the child. Informally we can consider these relationships as friendships; if we want to speak more formally these can also be considered mentorships. Taken further, this would be the basis of a rich and varied intergenerational learning society that many de-schooling/unschooling advocates are trying to create.1 I would like to encourage readers without children to think about the kids you know, even peripherally (kids make friends easily) and consider fostering a relationship with them. Heck, the parents might even pay you for childcare. You could take them to a playground, a forest, a farm, a festival, your backyard, the library, a wood shop, a bus ride to a place they’ve never been, or anything you can possibly imagine.
For example, for several years I would hang out with my friend’s child. We built bridges and climbed trees along the river, read subversive Earthsaving kids books while laying on the river bank, went apple picking at a friend’s orchard, walked the cliffs at the Guelph wood squat, and hung out at his house playing games. We both mightily enjoyed our friendship; I vividly remember each of our hangouts. And I was only one of a handful of interesting adults whose influence he got to soak in and learn from. For a relatively low involvement of time one can make a lasting impact in a child’s life, tangibly increasing the chances that one more child will grow to be an empowered, loving, critical thinking adult in a world that is in short supply. Books like Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities explore, ways to help parents feel included in their community, and gives them time to do what they want to do with their lives besides parenting. Seen from another angle, these relationships are just as beneficial and even therapeutic for the caregiver. As an older friend to a child you get to see yourself and the world from a refreshing perspective, your own inner child gets to come out and play, you get to bask in the wonder, sincerity and total honesty of a child, and you usually have more fun than you have with other adults. The lack of intergenerational connections, even between people 5 to 10 years apart in age, is a serious and fatal absence in North American radical communities. This absence sees older activists fade away because the younger crowd doesn’t get them, and condemns each new generation to commit the same crippling mistakes. If we put no work into relationships with youth and supporting families, then we do nothing to cultivate the next generation, and activists of today become elders to no one. ∆
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For more information look up Field Day by Matt Hern, or anything by John Holt and John Taylor Gatto.
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A Guilt-Free Winter: Reflections on Burnout In this article, the author discusses how they came to recognize the effects of burnout; and the steps they took to prioritizing self care and feel okay about it. by Devyn
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dmitting burnout has been a difficult thing for me. I was having a conversation with a lover one day and he used the term burnout in reference to the feelings I was describing, which at the time caught me off guard. Lately, I’ve been using the term in confidence to describe where I’m at. Over the past year, I’ve been coming out of a very overwhelming period of peak anxiety in my life, which has led me to reflect a lot on personal sustainability in activism. I became aware that I was living with consistent anxiety a few years ago while living in (what I consider to be) one of the largest radical political hubs in the country, the city known to most as Montreal. I started to notice the anxiety I was carrying around with me daily when I had taken on a lot at once. I was part of a grassroots indigenous solidarity collective, hosting and producing content for a couple community radio shows, going to demos often, facilitating various workshops and trainings, and more. I started meeting some of the Montreal-based organizers I had admired from afar. I felt like I was finally becoming part of the radical political scene in the city, like I was contributing to local organizing in a meaningful way. My activist resume was looking quite full and impressive, which made me feel good about myself. I felt valuable and self-assured in my contributions to struggles that are important to me. My involvement in activism made me feel worthy, legitimate, interesting and valuable. My identity became very wrapped up in what
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I was involved in politically and I began to judge others around me who I thought weren’t doing enough. I had placed so much pressure on myself to go beyond my capacity in my involvement with activism, I expected those around me to be willing to do the same. I was also grappling with questions around queer identity, juggling a romantic relationship, family issues, school, and activism, and as the most recent Quebec student movement was well underway. While the student strike made for a very exciting time to be organizing, everything I was involved in began to pile up and feel heavy. I started to notice symptoms of intense anxiety and my involvement in community organizing started to feel like more of an obligation than inspiration. I could no longer deny or hide the fact that I was not okay.
I started to notice the anxiety I was carrying around with me daily when I had taken on a lot at once. www.guelphpeak.org
Even though I was having a hard time that winter, I pushed myself to be involved in the strike beyond my capacity. To be on the streets daily, taking part in economic disruption and direct action, while keeping up with the other activism I was involved with. After a series of terrifying runins with riot cops and pushing myself too hard, my anxiety peaked and at one point became completely unmanageable, extremely overwhelming, isolating, and scary. My relationship to ideas of productivity and my involvement in organizing had become unsustainable for me and I plummeted.
back burner. With an awareness of the fact that my emotional issues follow me and won’t just disappear when you leave a place, I am now focusing my attention to working through my relationship with anxiety, and to notions of productivity. I’m currently spending the winter in a small rural community, living a fairly isolated existence. I am not doing any political organizing at the moment, not socializing on a regular basis and am instead working on emotional, mental, and creative sides of myself. I consider this time to be one of recovery from burnout. A time to prioritize being good to myself and of learning how to expect less of myself sometimes. I don’t feel bad about taking this While being politically active is time and disconnecting for a while. Since admitting necessary, we should be careful burnout, and making the necessary changes in my life to recuperate, I’m thinking a lot about sustainnot to internalize and glorify ability and reassessing what is within my capacity if I notions of over-productivity want to continue being involved in political organizand constant output that are ing for the rest of my life. I see a lot of activists and radical types around me feeling down on themselves, promoted and learnt through self-conscious, guilty, invaluable, in times where capitalist models. they don’t feel up to taking much on. I’ve judged friends who I considered not to I lost touch of myself for a while and was be very politically engaged or active, thinking myself forced to remove myself from my busy schedule more radical than them because I felt that what I was before I lost touch with reality all together. I left the doing mattered and was helping to address some of city for four months to recuperate and seek support, the messed up forms of injustice I see around me. I healing and counselling. When I came back in the now think passing such judgement on a comrade fall, I let go of certain involvements in an attempt based on their political involvement is bullshit. to strive towards a more sustainable pace for myself. Everyone has their own gifts, their own capacities, Despite my intentions and increased self-awareness, and approaches to activism. Not everyone is in a I took on a demanding job contract, and continued mental, or emotional space to be able to take on to be involved in activism past my capacity for the activist organizing. As anarchists, and radical types, I year following my hiatus. I couldn’t seem to shake think it’s important to stop placing so much gratificathe fast-paced Montreal lifestyle. I wasn’t able to tion on being hyper-productive and involved. While figure out how to actually slow down there, be less being politically active is important and necessary, involved and feel okay about it. The constant slew we should be careful not to internalize and glorify of radical events, demos, marches, vigils, panels dis- notions of over-productivity and constant output that cussions, film screenings, workshops, conferences, are promoted and learnt through capitalist models. convergences, etc. made that city a very exciting It’s okay to take space, be vulnerable, slow down or place to learn about radical politics, but also a very approach activism from less exhausting entry points. anxiety provoking place for me. There is a feeling Whenever someone is taking the time to slow down, of urgency in the political culture of that place that pull back, take care, someone else has the energy to normalizes hyper productivity, which can be very put in and step forward to fill more demanding roles. inspiring and motivating, but was ultimately too If we want our movements, and our own relationships much for me. to activism to be lifelong and sustainable, we need Eventually, I realized I needed to leave the to accept and recognize where we’re at and not be so city for good. Many other factors impacted this hard on ourselves for “not doing enough”. Most of the decision, but constant over-stimulation and the movements we are part of will be ongoing for a very fast pace were central motivators. It was very dif- long time, so self-awareness, rest, balance and sustainficult to admit to myself it was in my best interest ability are key. These movements should be spaces of to leave because I had come to feel a strong sense caring, understanding, and loving, not anxiety and of political community there, which took years to burnout. If we’re in it for the long haul, we need to build. However, I knew if I stayed my mental health be gentle and accepting of ourselves as much as we would continue to deteriorate and be placed on the need to continue upping the ante. ∆ A Guilt Free Winter: Reflections on Burnout 21
Intergen. Movements 22 The Peak Intergenerational Movements
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Leaving: An Interview With Andréa Schmidt Andréa Schmidt discusses her transition from activism and organizing to working as a journalist and filmmaker. by the Peak How has your contribution to political struggle changed over the years? Can you talk about why that is? n my twenties, I spent a number of years actively organizing for social change – anti-gentrification work, migrant justice work, anti-war and anti-imperialist activism, and solidarity work with movements around the world. I effectively stopped doing that work when I became a professional journalist – and by professional, I mean both that I started getting paid to do journalistic work, and that I became bound by the codes of ethics of the profession (which can be interpreted in a range of ways) and of the various news organizations for which I have worked (which are more clearly defined). I decided to become a journalist in large part because I had a number of experiences that led me to burnout, and to intense dissatisfaction with slogans. I think the burnout and the sense of hitting an intellectual dead-end were related. Slogans, statements of principles, and demands, while integral to any campaign, didn’t seem adequate for evaluating movement successes and failures, never mind for analyzing and interpreting the mess in the world around me. I remember feeling exhausted and alienated at a demonstration when I was about 27 years old – there were internecine quarrels about strategy
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dividing the scene I was part of that hadn’t healed, and weren’t going to. And someone, an older person, referred to me in conversation that day as “having responsibilities as an elder in the movement.” And I thought, oh my god, this is crazy. I’m 27 years old. I don’t know anything about how this is supposed to work. I desperately need more skills, experience, and political tools and I crave older mentors who could advise me about all those things, and about how collectively we could get out of this rut we’re in. But there’s no one around that I have that relationship with, and suddenly I’m being told I’m an elder in the movement? I wanted to cry. I wanted out. The one person in my life at the time who I respected politically and intellectually and who acted as an important and generous mentor to me was a journalist. So maybe it’s not a huge surprise that I decided that journalism would be what I’d do for the next period of my life. On the one hand, I thought journalism (unlike writing press releases) would allow me to ask questions that would lead to murky but very interesting and instructive political territory beyond what I’d held to be ideologically true. And its practice would also allow me to hone a critical practice, and a more dispassionate vantage point from which to learn about social movements across the political spectrum and around the world.
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I hoped that that would, after many years, allow me to understand more clearly how social change actually works (and why so often it doesn’t). So that’s what I do now. I make current affairs documentaries, mostly, about a whole range of issues, in lots of different places. (I’ve had the opportunity to make news docs about topics as diverse as the war for drugs in Mexico, the failures of the international community after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the ways in which US anti-terrorism policy contributed to the impact of the famine in Somalia, the ways in which inequality and a financial crash in the US gave rise to the Tea Party, and life after Guantanamo for former detainees in Yemen). If I had to describe the kind of journalism I do in a nutshell, I’d say that I focus on the policies and practices that make some lives worth less than others – and the movements that rise to counter them. The documentaries tend to be more analytical than most things on television, and also to amplify voices less often given a media platform. I hope they’re useful to people who are organizing. But it’s not the same as organizing – that’s no longer what I do. Have your politics and your approaches to social movements changed as you’ve gotten older? I don’t think that my fundamental politics and values have changed. And I do think that those political convictions tend to motivate the first questions I ask when observing an event and trying to figure out how to explain what’s going on. (I believe this to be true of all journalists, no matter their political background. I think our most deepseated convictions frame the questions we are most likely to ask first.) But I do think that the practice of journalism has demanded that I learn to ask a wider range of questions, and look at things from as many perspectives as possible. It’s made me solicit and forced me to try to accurately interpret points of view that deeply unintuitive to me, and sometimes very uncomfortable, in the interest in telling the truth. Inevitably, this has made me less sure of certain things I might have accepted as truths or self-evident before. And I think it’s given me a more textured and multi-dimensional view of how governance and statecraft function (or fail). Maybe it’s made me more open to considering a broad range of political expression, strategies, tactics as potentially useful in different contexts, and yet somehow more cynical about any given one as *the* way forward. Which doesn’t really matter, since I’m observing and interpreting as a journalist, not driving things as a political operative, or making strategic or tactical decisions as a movement organizer, or choosing how to articulate those decisions in agitprop or press
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releases or speeches. Also, I think that watching movements rise and fall over and over again makes you a bit of an agnostic about what works and what doesn’t, why the cycles happen the way the they do, why so much creativity and effort can sometimes really cause a shift and other times remains subcultural. Also agnostic about basic definitions: what does “imperialism” mean in the 21st century? What does “grassroots” mean, say, in the context of the US? I don’t have easy answers to these questions, which then impacts how I think about social change.
I thought, oh my god, this is crazy. I’m 27 years old. I don’t know anything about how this is supposed to work. I desperately need more skills, experience, and political tools and I crave older mentors who could advise me about all those things. I think that when learning about and analyzing social movements as a journalist, I tend to take a broader view of things. Maybe it’s the deferral of judgement – the space in which critical questioning thrives – or maybe it’s having had the chance to observe, at least superficially, how things work in many different societies around the world, or maybe it’s just that as you get older more and more of your peers start having children and spending time fulfilling the range of responsibilities that creates. Or
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perhaps it’s just self-justifying. But I find I’m much more prone to accepting that there are different phases of life that one devotes to different things, and that a healthy community needs to make space for people in all those different phases, and lasting movements need to acknowledge the different roles that people play and the different contributions they make in different periods of their lives. How has your life changed? How does that affect how you interact with organizers and/or “the movement”? Financially, I’m much more stable than I was when I was organizing almost full time, and honestly, that makes it a lot easier to feel mentally, physically and psychologically well. Worrying about being able to pay rent, feeding yourself — never mind dependents — and struggling to acquire and scrounge together the tools you need to work is tremendously draining. I could write a long treatise on capitalism and creativity. I think I’m still as obsessed with politics as I’ve ever been, and as single-minded about whatever project I’m working on at a given moment. And I do love politics, which are at the heart of almost every story I tell. I don’t have children, and not having them has been a very conscious decision, affording me more flexibility to take physical and financial risks, and be obsessive and single-minded about what I do. (That’s just a personality trait though – I think it’s useful, both as an organizer and as a producer. In both spheres it alienates some people, and attracts others. I’m ok with that.) But as I mentioned above, working as a journalist has meant a separation from “the movement” – a critical separation, in the sense that I no longer contribute to it as an organizer, and to the extent that I cover “it” or parts of “it” I do so as an outsider asking the tough critical questions about strategy and accountability I would ask of any movement or group of people. But also a physical separation – I have lived in different cities since I stopped organizing, have developed close relationships with colleagues and people outside the movement that are as loyal and fraught as those I maintained with co-organizers for many years. At times, there has been an intense loneliness to this separation, but also a relief. The movement, as I experienced it in my twenties, was very insular. When I left and started moving toward journalism, separating myself, I was terrified that I would no longer exist, that I would lose any identity I had at that point. And at the same time, one of the interesting things about growing older in this separation is that I’ve learned that some of the relationships that were forged “in the movement” are really amazingly enduring, and those loyalties have, over the
Working as a journalist has meant a separation from “the movement” – a critical separation, in the sense that I no longer contribute to it as an organizer, and to the extent that I cover “it” or parts of “it” years, transcended a range of political choices and weathered the separation. And that’s a source of great joy and gratitude. Do you work in a community of people your age? Or are they mostly younger? Now I mostly work with people my age, and people 10 to 12 years younger. I really like working with younger people because they’re energetic and enthusiastic about things that I’m getting jaded about. Sometimes that causes friction – but I think it’s productive. Also, it makes you realize how stories and political themes/dynamics persist or recur and are ‘rediscovered’ by new generations of journalists – which is both frustrating if you’ve seen it before and think there’s nothing new to learn by exploring the theme again, but also thank god, because actually we do learn new things by investigating stories that have been done before, exploring themes that have been discussed before. I think there are probably parallels there for people organizing in social movement settings. And because I have a huge debt to the two or three people who have mentored me, I try to be a good mentor to younger journalists I get to work with. I think sometimes I fail – single-mindedness, exhaustion, competitiveness all being reasons – but I try. It’s crucial. I think that relationship is likely different from what you get in horizontal social movements – for better or for worse, my relationships with younger people tend to be as their supervisor on projects where I’m the journalist with more experience and seniority in a hierarchical newsroom. I try to moderate that when I can, in light of my experience in more horizontal collectives. I also really like working with younger people because they’re still allowed to feel good about wanting to learn everything. By the time you’re my age, you’re supposed to have learned all your skills, and be in the process of perfecting them, building retirement savings on the basis of them. But there’s still so much I want to learn – both technically, and more generally about how the world functions. So working with younger teams — or with people my age who are similarly still curious and want to learn
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new stuff and experiment — feels more dynamic. And it keeps me from calcifying. At the same time, it can be challenging. Sometimes when I’m working with new teams, and particularly new teams of younger journalists, I long for the shorthand I have with people I’ve worked with for years. That thing where you get new information, and you can figure out what you’re going to do about it together with a look, or a few words. You don’t need to talk through everything in detail. (I remember feeling this way about tight knit crews of activists I organized with too. ) That level of shared experience can be a real strength in crisis situations, or on a tight deadline – it allows you to move fast. And it’s a real solace when you’re doing something difficult, scary or exhausting. At the same time, it can make you insular and lazy, and over time that becomes a weakness for both journalists and outward looking social movements. Are there communities you’ve organized with in which people of all ages, and people with and without kids, manage to work together? How do they do it? Why do you think it’s so hard for so many of us? The activist scene I “grew up” in wasn’t particularly intergenerational. There were certainly older activists involved in important ways, but they were the exception, and either they didn’t have kids, or their kids were grown up. Some people had kids, but I think they often really struggled with how to think about their involvement when they could no longer attend meetings every night of the week and for large chunks of the weekend. Certainly when “the movement” was organizing with communities beyond itself (yes, even that diction raises a range of questions, doesn’t it) things got a lot more intergenerational. There were kids, extended families, meals, contingencies. Things also seemed to get less polarized, ideologically speaking, less petty on a personal level. I think those contingencies force a certain level of pragmatism, for better or for worse.
I find I’m much more prone to accepting that there are different phases of life that one devotes to different things, and that a healthy community needs to make space for people in all those different phases, and lasting movements need to acknowledge the different roles that people play
moments of convergence, victory or heightened hope (these things seem to go in cycles), activists and organizers tend to turn on each other. Instead of focusing on repressive state apparatuses, exploitative corporations, or systems designed to dispossess, and because they are worn out, they fight over petty Why do you think people drop out of activism/ things as though they were foundational issues, organizing? trade accusations of not being ideologically correct I’ve briefly told my story of leaving activism/orga- or sufficiently radical, and wage power struggles nizing to do something else. But people leave for that are (relatively speaking) beside the point. I’ve lots of different reasons. Anecdotally speaking – and heard organizers in certain circles referring to this this is by no means supposed to be a comprehensive recently as lateral violence, which is a helpful term. overview – here are a few. These are moments when I think people do exit “the I think that when organizations are heavily movement” out of a sense of disillusionment and repressed, or when campaigns stagnate, or when alienation. The disjunction between the rhetoric movements are on the downswing after euphoric of social justice and the petty cruelty with which
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people can launch accusations in these moments can they decide to do different things. I do know people be hard to overcome when you’re already exhausted in their fifties and sixties who, after their kids are (or facing charges, or worse). And that same disjunc- no longer totally dependent, or prompted by other tion can throw a range of movement hypocrisies, events, return to activism and to organizing. Or unaddressed oppressions, tacit discriminations, they begin to be able to contribute the skills and dishonest glorifications and other shortcomings experience they’ve developed in other phases and into stark relief. When the people you thought areas of their lives directly to more political work were your friends turn on you, you start question- again. I guess I’m saying that what can look like ing everything they’ve told you. “dropping out” at a certain point in a life can, from Other people start to feel like they’ve out- a different vantage point, turn out to look more like grown the subcultures associated with certain orga- a departure required in order to return, or even one nizing practices or activist scenes, and it becomes of many such separations. more onerous to remain involved when most of your peer group has moved on. This is most obviously Do you think it’s important for our movements the case with various forms of organizing rooted to be intergenerational? If yes, how do you in student or campus activism. think we should develop intergenerational And still other people end up “dropping struggle? out” because they have children, or because they I can imagine very effective militant groups or get jobs that make it difficult (and occasionally activist cadres with specific tactical or even strategic impossible) to participate in the way they have in purposes that are not intergenerational.But I can’t the past. Having small children is time-consuming imagine any lasting and successful social movement and shifts most people’s sense of responsibility – the that isn’t intergenerational. On some level, that’s risks you take, be they financial or legal, suddenly tautological. If a social movement lasts, people in have significant implications for someone totally it will get older, younger people will join or be born dependent on you. I get how that’s a huge deal, even into it… though I haven’t had that experience myself. I also For that to happen, for a social movement to notice that different parents respond to that shift- last, for people not to age out of a web of relationing set of pressures and responsibilities in different ships and activities, or a scene, I think there has to be ways. Many new parents I know remain actively a clear recognition that people have different levels involved in social movements; not everyone disap- of involvement and ways of contributing at different pears. But I do think that the new time constraints stages of their lives. Also, a recognition that people are significant. And I would guess that they impact can come and go to a certain extent. new parents’ ability to engage in the kinds of socialI don’t think it’s just an issue of child care izing that binds various organizing commitments during meetings – I tend to think it’s more about and activities in many scenes – you’re not going how you conceptualize what “the movement” actuto go drinking after meetings three nights a week ally is, what animates it, what nourishes it, how and be at every benefit show if you’re responsible far it extends, and how rigid its boundaries need for a six month old. I imagine that this would alter to be. ∆ one’s sense of belonging to various activist scenes I can remember even if one were still able to attend Andréa Schmidt is a journalist and awardmeetings three nights a week. winning producer-director of current In every generation, I would guess that as affairs documentaries. some people leave or become less involved, it poses www.whatescapes.tumblr.com new challenges for those wanting to remain present @whatescapes and engaged in the movement. I’ve talked about all the great things about working with younger people. But there can be difficult things about having the same debates over and over again with new sets of people, and a frustration that develops with mentoring and supporting people until they leave too, in what seems like an inexorable cycle. That can be depressing. Perhaps attrition is contagious. But I want to stress that I don’t think people necessarily “drop out of the struggle” forever when
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Keep Going: My Experience of Radical Parenting A rad mama reflects on the challenges of raising a daughter in a patriarchal world. by Meme I
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y six year old daughter asks, “Why don’t Her innocence slays me, cuts my heart open girls play baseball?” I tell her that there and lays it out. I grieve to know that I will, inevitably, are some silly rules in sports about boys have to watch it turn to cynicism. and girls playing separately. I tell her that a lot of And I smile, because she needs to feel like people believe that all boys are different from all she is snuggled in warm blankets of security so she girls in the same ways. She laughs. can face this brutal world. Because now is the only She laughs a lot when I tell her things that childhood she will get and growing up too fast is a make no sense. Like her chuckles can shrug off thou- fate I want to deny her. sands of years of patriarchy. Like the illusion is so easy “Ya, babe,” I say, “we just have to teach them.” to see through, that it’s a joke that it keeps happening. As if it were so easy. As if dismantling patriar “But mama, everyone knows that some girls chy was an afternoon project for a single mama and are better at some things and some boys are too. her six year old daughter. As if teaching someone And that some in-betweens are better at some things how to unlearn systemic oppression was as simple too. Everyone knows, don’t they?” And I sigh. as baking a cake: following a recipe and watching How do I tell her that not everyone knows? it rise in the oven. That most people will try to squeeze her into a box and tell her she is feeble? Tell her what strength II looks like: vulnerability is weak and a hardened People ask me what keeps me inspired to continue heart is strong. Tell her that if she develops her radical parenting. I’m not sure it’s about inspiration mind as her strongest muscle she will be called a bitch anymore. I just keep going. There doesn’t seem to and if she develops her body she will be called ugly. be another option. How do I tell her that her voice is not valued? Keep going, even though I burnt out years That she will have to work so much harder for the ago. Keep going, even though I feel isolated from same recognition? That her passion will be mistaken community because I am a single mama. Even for hysteria and her love for weakness? though loving fiercely and continually hurts like hell. How do I explain that her body is a ticking Even though I don’t know if there’s even a future to time bomb because this society will not diffuse walk with her towards. Even though I don’t have all patriarchy in time to save its young girls from the answers and screw up all the time. abuse? That once that bomb goes off she probI just keep going. And fail. Over and over ably will be blamed for being in the way of the again: I fail. Try again and fail better, as Cornel hand that threw it? West says. I don’t know how to tell her that it’s so much And I am learning to be ok with failing all the bigger than baseball, so deep I can’t find the bottom, time. Learning that imperfection is inherent in the so ingrained that our very skin is forged from it. process. I’m becoming really good friends with grief In this moment, my mind spirals, freefalling and grieve regularly for the poverty of our times. For into helplessness, wondering what I did bringing a what I cannot offer my daughter. For all the times child into this world of suffering. when I couldn’t offer the best because I too am a A minute has passed and she’s still waiting product of this fucked up world. for the answer. I am learning to love deeply. It strengthens I take a deep breath. “Maybe one day every- my relationship to myself, my family, my comone will know, but right now, sweetie, not everyone munity and this Earth. I am nourished and, by does.” this love, I just keep going. One heartbroken “Well, that’s easy,” she says, “we just have to foot follows the other. No more inspiration, just teach them.” imperfect, fierce love. ∆
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Stepping Back: An Interview With Matt Soltys by The Peak How has your involvement in activism and organizing changed since you became a parent? I have still been involved in some activism, but it hasn’t been as much a priority as it was before I was a parent. After my partner and I conceived I made the conscious choice to step back from activism. I did this because I wanted to get the most out of the entire experience. I wanted time to attend to my own emotional process around becoming a father, and to have more time to educate myself about pregnancy and labour support, and to spend more time with my partner. And there were the logistical things I wanted to really be on top of – getting stable housing, making a home, being financially comfortable, etc. For me it was a great choice as for the first time in years I prioritized to such an extent personal reflection and nurturing my relationship with my partner. Do you chalk this change up to differences in your own goals and priorities, or to an organizing culture that isn’t accessible to parents, or just to the demands of parenting on your time and energy? A bit of both. I have changed as a person, not 100% because I am a parent, but just where I am at in my life. I have made space for things in my life that I didn’t make space for when I was a busy activist. Also, I have had to reflect a lot on what was appropriate for me to be involved in now that going to prison would severely impact those closest to me. The activism I have limited myself to has been educational workshops and publishing a book. There are also things about the 20 and 30-something childless activist culture that are incongruent with the lives of parents and children. For example, many events happen in the evening, when parents need to be home putting their kids to bed and taking care of a host of chores. House shows/parties that facilitate networking and relationships are also after bedtime, so I’ve found it very easy to be out of the loop.
Do you think it’s as important to give your child a good political upbringing, as it is to raise a child who is happy and healthy and feels loved and important? Are there tensions between these two things? I have mixed feelings about giving a child a “good political upbringing.” We’re always instilling values in our children, mostly latently or unconsciously just by how we communicate and interact with our kids, and how we interact with and describe the world around them. I worry about crossing the line from exposure to indoctrination. Currently I think that it is most important to raise a child who can think critically for themselves, who is confident in questioning others around them, who knows who they are, and who is given freedom to live life as they choose (after a certain age). I feel that raising a child like this will inevitably allow them to live in a way that feels right for them. For example, my son loves all types of vehicles, including police cars. For a little while when he was around two years old, he’d ask me if I like police. I’d tell him I don’t, and try describing why. Then he started saying “No like police cars,” or “Papa don’t like police,” when we’d see a police car. I was worried his daycare providers or various other adults would judge me for feeding him ideas that he couldn’t understand as a two year old. What would organizing have to look like for you to want / be able to be more involved? (eg. more focus on issues that are important to you? childcare? A structure that doesn’t involve so many meetings? A different attitude towards children?) I would love to be a part of a diverse intergenerational community where kids and families are central to organizing. A culture where relationships and community-building are valued, and kids are encouraged to participate in some way that is ageappropriate and fun. ∆
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Left Linocut by Peggy
Committing... for Better & for Worse: An Interview With mandy hiscocks by The Peak Collective
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andy has lived in Guelph since 1994 when she started her undergrad at the university, where she started to get involved in political activism and organizing. After graduating she spent many years working on campus, and is currently the Volunteer Coordinator at OPIRGGuelph, a social and environmental activist centre at the university. She has been part of many different actions and campaigns, many of which have landed her in court, some of which have landed her in the hospital, and one of which landed her in jail. They have also been her main source of purpose, accomplishment and friendships over the last 15 years. mandy turns 40 years old in a few months. Since the 90s she has watched most people she worked with grow up, burn out, or fade away, which gives her all the more respect for those who have stuck around. How have your politics and your approaches to organizing changed as you’ve gotten older? I used to be really dogmatic. At first I was dead set on non-violent civil disobedience and I wouldn’t hear from anyone who argued otherwise. And then during the anti-globalization movement, when I had my first real run-ins with scary riot cops, I realized that that wouldn’t work, that we’d be slaughtered. So I became really dogmatic about militancy and economic damage and direct action. Now I believe in a diversity of tactics, and that we need to be flexible. I’m a lot more willing to work with a wider range of people and organizations,I’m a lot more interested in what they have to say. Part of that is that I’m less idealistic than I was. I used to think that with enough information people would care, and once they cared they would obviously fight. Now I know there will always be fewer of us than we need, that most people won’t step up, and so we have to be more strategic in using the little we’ve got and we can’t be discounting the people whose politics aren’t exactly the same as ours.
What are some obstacles you encounter when you work with people of an younger generation? How do they treat you? What are some of the tensions? I sometimes distrust younger people in the sense that I don’t know if they’ll be around five years from now. You know that old 60s hippie saying “Don’t trust anyone over thirty”? Well sometimes I think it’s more like “Don’t trust anyone under thirty.” So many people see activism as a phase, or a hobby, and then go on to get fancy jobs, a house and a car, and have families and all that. It’s disappointing, every time. It’s hard for me to commit to people if I don’t know that they’re committed as well. I do acknowledge that that’s harsh, that people’s early twenties are a time when they’re figuring things out and experimenting and so on. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that after ten years of it it takes its toll. This is definitely not to diss anyone in my community, regardless of their age. People are amazing organizers, and have stood in solidarity with me through a lot lately. It’s just that in the back of my head there’s always this nagging feeling that they could be gone any day. There’s also this nagging feeling that people are setting themselves up more than I ever did, when I assumed none of us really did that. I didn’t think people were saving money, or thinking of a career, or considering buying houses, or any of that. But more and more I see people are doing those things and it terrifies me, because I feel like I didn’t get the memo, you know, that even though we’re radicals, and some of us are anarchists, we should still be looking out for number one. One concrete thing that I miss is working with other cities, which was a much more common model during the anti-globalization movement. It has fallen out of favour, and it’s kind of looked down on by the younger crowd. Things are more insular now, we tend to organize inwards more than outwards and I don’t think it’s as effective. It’s
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just one of the ways that things change as we get get bored or don’t feel challenged and so they move older - the things we worked so hard at and put so to find a better organizing scene, one that’s more much energy into are cast aside. That can be hard exciting or appears to have more potential. I can’t at times. count the number of people who’ve picked up and I should say that I’m very grateful and hon- moved to Toronto or Montréal because it’s cooler, oured to still be accepted by a group of people ten there are more people to work with, people are more to fifteen years younger than me. radical or more experienced or If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to whatever. My life in Guelph has My life in Guelph has do the kind of organizing that been marked by saying goodinterests me in this town, and bye to a succession of amazing been marked by saying then I’d be the one having to organizers. It takes its toll on a goodbye to a succession make the choice of “Do I stay community. of amazing organizers. and do less than I could, or do I’m certainly not saying I leave for a place that has older that moving is always a bad It takes its toll on a radicals in it?” I know people thing. Sometimes a move is community. my age in many cities, I could go what allows someone to start to any of them and be accepted organizing, because it’s a move there, but I don’t want to leave to a community of people they Guelph. I made a commitment to Guelph a long can identify with. A lot of my frustration with it time ago. So I’m glad I can still work with people stems from my privilege of not having to move in here. order to find a group of people I’m comfortable with. Moving from straight white rural Ontario Why do you think it’s so hard for so many of us to Toronto, for example, probably opens up a to organize outside of our peer group? whole world of political organizing to a lot of I should start by saying that everything I talk about queer people, or people of colour. But still, that’s a from here on in will be based in my experience of community based on common identity, which is a organizing in communities of mostly white, student different beast than a community rooted in a place. and/or middle-ish class people, usually between the Sometimes I let myself imagine if all the amazing ages of twenty and thirty. That is what I know, and organizers from Guelph who are now doing great that’s what I’m talking about. I can’t speak about work in cities around the world had stayed here. other communities, and nothing I say in this inter- We needed those people to have stayed here. We view is meant to include them. reinvent the wheel all the time in this town because Part of the problem is that people aren’t there are so few people who remember the organizrooted in a geographical community. People move ing of the 90s, let alone anything that happened around, people really value freedom of movement. before then. It’s a good thing in a lot of ways but it means that we didn’t grow up around our neighbours, we don’t Why do you think people leave the movement? have family ties in the community, we have little There are all kinds of reasons people move away history with or commitment to the people around from organizing. Burnout and too many defeats us, and there’s no long-term attachment to the land are a couple of reasons. But I wonder about those base. So we tend to gravitate towards people who sometimes. Most movements are far more repressed are like us, who enjoy the same things and have the than ours, and the consequences of resisting are same politics, who use similar tactics. It’s easier. It’s so much harsher for other people than for us. As also more fun- I mean, if you’re going to organize for defeats, it’s always been that way. Change has in your spare time you’re giving up opportunities to always come at a huge cost, people have had to pick hang out with friends. So if you organize with your themselves up time and time again before winning friends, you’re feeding two birds with one hand so anything. I think we really do need to suck it up a to speak. The downside of combining organizing bit. It’s not a popular opinion in this day and age of with friends with the ability to move easily is that self-care, and I get a lot of flak for it, but there you go. people’s personal shit, their arguments with and Careers and jobs are a huge reason people disappointments in each other, can often mean that leave. Lots of people are in school right now to be they just walk away. They stay in town but leave lawyers, nurses, social workers; a few years ago it the movement or stay in the movement and leave was teacher’s college. Organizers who pursue these town. There’s no real impetus to do the hard work careers often continue to be part of the movement of staying where we are, sorting out our differences, There are lawyers who take on political cases pro and carrying on. bono- the Movement Defence Committee is a Even when there’s no conflict, people often group of movement lawyers who do workshops and
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legal support for activists. But a lawyer, obviously, American society it’s almost certain that any person has far less time to contribute to actual organiz- does more harm than good to the planet and to ing. And they are constrained to a certain extent by people in the global south, no matter how amazprofessional codes of conduct. I have friends who ing their politics are or how well they put them are lawyers, and can see how torn some of them into action. It’s just the way we live, the way we’re are between their career and the organizing work forced to live. I can’t remember who said it, but I they used to be part of. It’s not easy. I have so much once heard the expression “At the end of your life, respect for the few of them who don’t get pulled all make sure you’ve done more good than harm.” If we the way out of the movement and into regular law- really take everything into account, very few of us yerland. I think that often people go into a certain are doing that, and very few of our kids will either. profession thinking it’s the best way to make change Don’t get me wrong, I love kids. I have nieces while actually supporting themselves, and then learn and nephews, and lots of friends’ kids in my life. It the limitations when it’s too late. This is a common feels like such a sacrifice to never have had any of my complaint of my teacher friends- that there they are, own to care for. But we make a lot of sacrifices for with a bunch of youth who are at the age where their the movement, and this is just one of them. People political opinions are forming, but the curriculum is need to decide, I think. We can’t breed a revoluso packed and the classes so big that there’s no time tion AND raise kids who feel that their parents will to really talk about things. I think a lot of people support anything they do. We can’t really resist, we get a career with really good intentions of using it can’t put our shit on the line, AND still live up to to support the movement, but end up realizing that the standard of parenthood that has been set for us. it’s not what they thought it would be. Still, people will continue to have kids, and Sometimes people don’t leave so much as so it’s up to all of us to figure out ways to make drift away without meaning to or even necessar- sure they’re still included if they want to be. As a ily realizing it. I worry movement, we’re not good sometimes that this is hapat that. Our meetings are at Most movements are far more pening to me. I was lucky bad times, they’re not fun to land myself a job that I for kids, we don’t include repressed than ours, and the could live with politically the kids in our decisionconsequences of resisting speaking, as well as live making and we don’t usuoff of, financially speaking. are so much harsher for other ally talk about issues that are It’s hard to juggle having important to them or their people than for us. a good, mostly ethical job parents. This is also true for with continuing to organize outside of it, especially youth, and elderly people, and people affected by (dis) when your job is similar to the work you’d be doing abilism. Our organizing is centred on and structured for free (meetings, events, posters, campaigns, and around the interests, availability and capacity of a very so on). There was a time that I was (or at least tried small slice of the population. to be) part of every single project and every campaign going. I barely slept. And then a few years ago Why do we even want these things that tear us I realized that I actually did very little organizing away from the struggle? The career, the house, outside of work and that I’d hardly even noticed the the kids? shift. Suddenly all of the energy I used to put into The sad fact is that we are far more mainstream than unpaid work was going to my job. we like to believe. We like to think we’re counterKids are another big reason people drop out, culture or have a better system or whatever, but or are forced out of the movement. I’m not a fan of when it comes down to it we often end up doing radicals having kids- for one thing, they can be used what everyone else does: we couple up, we want against us. A threat to someone’s child is a pretty kids, having those kids tends to lead us to a single common way to get them to snitch, for example. I family home with a lot of stuff, even without kids also don’t buy the “breeding the revolution” theory many of us choose to buy cars and homes, and we that’s quite popular these days- the one that says want a good job that will allow us to be comfortthat we have to have more children so there will be able. These are the same things that most people more good people / more fighters / more people want, be they liberal or conservative or apolitical. who will resist. The fact is there is absolutely no way The personal property and nuclear family-based to know how a kid will turn out, especially because system really does suck us in, much as we like to say we place so much value on independence and people we’re different. It’s a powerful beast, and we’ve been fulfilling their dreams and being whoever they want indoctrinated into it from childhood. There are to be, and we constantly stress that we’ll love our are a few people I know who resist this. They’re in kids no matter their choices in life. Finally, in North their 40s. They have jobs but they keep organizing. Committing... for Better and for Worse 33
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They have kids but they still take risks. They live in collective houses with those kids. They are a great example of how we could live - but I know from conversations I’ve had with them that it’s really hard. Society has been designed to push people into a very specific way of life and to punish those of us who want to do something else.
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Children of the Revolution. Bill Rolston, 2011. Guildhall Press, Derry.
wake up at night worried that she would be taken to jail. She said the same thing: “I’m doing this for her.” A lot of people in the very white, very privileged community I organize in might say this is irresponsible, that once you have kids you can’t go around doing that stuff any more. But in my opinion, it’s precisely those of us that have the privilege choose to walk away from the struggle How do you think we should be going about that have the responsibility not to. developing an intergenerational struggle? At the same time, it’s hard to ask people to The tension between continuing to be part of the give up their health, their security, the well-being movement or dropping out often has to do with of their loved ones, for a struggle that is full of so personal security. A lot of us have more to lose by much failure and disappointment. It’s also hard to being involved than by not being involved. One ask them to not put their families first. I’m reading thing I think about a lot lately is the fact that I a book right now of interviews with the children have no money saved for if I live beyond the time of republican and loyalist fighters in Northern in my life when I’m able to work. I don’t own a Ireland1. Those people who died or spent a lot of house. I don’t want to participate in capitalism, I time in jail probably thought they were doing it don’t want to invest money and make it grow (read: all for their kids too... but so far in the book very steal from others or wreck the planet). But who’s few of those kids recognize or appreciate that. going to take care of me? I chose the movement, Overwhelmingly, they are angry and bitter that I chose to live by my principles, I chose to orga- their parent cared more for the struggle than for nize and stand in solidarity with the Earth and the them. They talk about the poverty and the pain people my peers and my lifestyle are screwing over. their mothers and family were thrown into, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. But it’s come how hard it was growing up the child of someone at a pretty significant perwho wasn’t around. And sonal loss- and I’m one of they certainly have very Society has been designed to the lucky ones! I have good little sympathy for the push people into a very specific struggle-in fact in most health and a decent job that keeps me fed, clothed and cases there’s outright hosway of life and to punish housed. The fact is that I’m tility towards it. those of us who want to do fighting to topple capitalIf we had a more something else. ism, but until it falls it has collective way of raising a huge hold on my ability kids, the impact of a parent to survive, and while I benefit from the movement who’s often out at meetings or who ends up servin a lot of ways personal security and a rosy future ing some time would be less severe and maybe kids are definitely not among them. wouldn’t reject the movement because of how it The way that a lot of people drop out of the hurt them. If we had a system in place to take care movement when they start to have more to lose of people who can’t find work because they refuse speaks to our privilege. In a lot of communities it’s to sell out their principles, people wouldn’t convery different- the struggle is a matter of survival, stantly be moving to Toronto to find paid work they because so much has been lost already. Recently can justify doing. We should have a way to ensure I was at a talk by a couple of people from the that our sick or elderly will be taken care of when Mi’kmaq Warrior Society. They spoke of inspira- they can’t care for themselves - that we won’t forget tion, of carrying on, of never giving up... whereas we them, in the same way we don’t forget our folks in speak so often of burnout and self-care and ways to jail. If we had this kind of mutual aid in place, then keep the movement sustainable. One of the speak- maybe people would feel less afraid of giving all ers talked about his kids. “I’m doing this for them. of their time, resources and energy to something I don’t want them to have to go through what I beyond their own personal lives. And we could went through.” He had been to jail, he had faced have a real movement, one that people could have live ammunition from the RCMP. And now he’s kids and grow old in, one in which people don’t away from home on a months long speaking tour. have to default to the mainstream life of savings Similarly on an recent episode of Democracy Now! and mortgages and career paths... because what we a woman from Bahrain was being interviewed. She would have instead would be so much better than had faced harsh consequences for protesting the all that. ∆ government there, and her young daughter would
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Organizing With Youth: An Interview With Dylan Powell Part 2 by The Peak
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n the second part of the interview with Dylan Powell, he discusses getting older, the value of older activists acting as mentors and creating intergenerational movements.
I think that people in the community that I organize in see me as someone who’s willing to take on a lot of risk for something that will make sense. Unfortunately I’ve backed myself into a corner over the years, taking on more and more risks because How have your politics and your approaches to of that. I’ve always had a big problem with trying organizing changed as you’ve gotten older? to implement strategies that collectivize risk and As I’ve gotten older I don’t approach advocacy in spread that out amongst the community while still the same way. I try to set things out getting people involved. It’s always on a year-to-year basis if not longer. I created a really big problem with contry to put a lot of thought into some- You shouldn’t sensus based decision-making models, thing before I do it. I bounce it if off because in situations where you have walk into a a lot of different people, I involve as a lot of risk, if you’re using consensus situation naïve, models generally the risk is not shared many people as I can who I think are solid and who organize in the same equally. People who are taking on an thinking that way. At the same time I intentionally extreme amount of risk are basically in the state or create that space for younger people, or the hands of the people who are not the law or people new to activist communities, to taking on any risk or are taking on very come in and to feel empowered and to little. So in terms of creating intergenthe police make mistakes. erational communities, it’s important are going to Getting older, and going to be creating organizational structures through a couple of years of civil liti- protect you. that can take into account the differgation now, has also forced me to really ent risks that people are taking. That’s sit back and think about the things that something that I’ve never been able are really important. It’s really easy to talk about to wrap my head around but ignoring this your politics, to perform your politics — it’s a lot dynamic is another thing that creates a lot of harder to live them. And it’s a lot harder to swallow burnout in communities. the pill of just how little we win, and the limitations that are upon all of us. Why is intergenerational struggle important? The older animal and earth liberation folks I got involved in animal advocacy here in St. who helped to mentor me made it pretty clear a long Catharines, which has a really weird and isolated time ago that using the tactics and strategies that activist community. Most people leave, there is I feel (and that they proved) are effective is going almost zero intergenerational social justice advocacy. to have consequences. You shouldn’t walk into a But at the same time there was a long-estabsituation naïve, thinking that the state or the law lished animal advocacy community and a group or the police are going to protect you. called Niagara Action for Animals that had been Organizing With Youth: An Interview With Dylan Powell Part 2 35
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around since 1989. Some of the people who got identities in their life while still being a part of this involved there ended up getting professional jobs community? A lot of times we type-cast people, at the university and stuck around. People want to push people into one specific one-dimensional kind know what’s the difference, why there’s no seamless of community and then if they want to break out environmental or social justice community here. from that or they want to do something different Basically, people in the animal advocacy community generally there’s not the support for people to do stayed. It’s that simple. A couple of people managed that. If that’s the case a lot of people just kind of to luck out and get good-paying living-wage jobs in drop off. the community, and they stuck it out. I was able to walk into a positive and welcoming community, I Are there communities you’ve worked with in had people who were already there to help mentor which people of all ages, and people with and me and bring me along. Not a lot of people have without kids, manage to work together? How that same experience. I’ve watched in Southern do they do it? Why do you think it’s so hard for Ontario a lot of people, even just over the span of so many of us? six years, kind of reinvent the wheel because they One thing that I think really works is including don’t have that. social events. Not as a primary goal or a priority, I created a radio show called The Vegan but as something that can exist, so that people who Police, and I would interview a whole bunch of can’t be at blockade sites or can’t be taking risks can old-time activists in the animal and earth libera- still be involved. I can speak for the experience of tion movements. One of the first people I spoke the animal liberation community — in the 80s you to and was really inspired by was didn’t see this sharp distincJosh Harper who was part of the tion over tactics where people One of the best things SHAC 7, the Stop Huntington who were more traditionally Animal Cruelty conspiracy case. that ever happened to liberally minded or wouldn’t Josh has been around since the put themselves in certain situme was because I was mid-90s and he can look back ations, generally they weren’t able to enter into a and say “I was part of groups critical of people who did and that would get 200 people out generally they actually supcommunity that already regularly to a demonstration, and ported people who did. When existed, and had the I know of two of those people you look at the situation space to try, and to who are still active. Why?” He’s today there’s such a sharper able to trace the gaps between the distinction and I think that a fail. We have to create different generations and some lot of that has to do with the space for young people of the problems that led to such fact that in the 80s people had to come in and fail, massive drop-offs and die-offs. many more intentional strateI was lucky in the sense gies on creating those social make mistakes. That’s that being involved in that radio spaces where those people something that a lot of show and Interviewing people could be together and those activists struggle with, like Josh opened me up to this various communities could broader world of mentors and meet, and people could still especially in the larger people who really made this an respect that there was differcities like Toronto. issue outside of just the local ence but that we were part of community that I was part of. something together. Josh would always be really humorous about I organized a potluck series here in Niagara it, he’d always say “Most people either get careers, for a couple of years. There are endless critiques of they go crazy, they go to jail, or they just kind of potlucks which are really valuable, but at the same give up.” I think there’s a broad base of reasons why time there are a lot of people who go to those potburnout is inevitable and why people leave. A lot lucks on a consistent basis who’ve supported some of those reasons are really superficial and I think of the more radical or militant things that have we shouldn’t really take a lot of time and energy happened in the community who wouldn’t have to invest in the fact that sometimes people are just had an outlet otherwise. selfish, sometimes people get involved based upon There are other communities outside of their own peer group and what they think is going Niagara that are doing a lot more work around creto work for them at the time. And then a lot of other ating space for mothers, especially single mothers, to things are really substantive, like are we creating be supported in communities. I know in Hamilton the ability for people to move through different recently they were doing a lot of fundraising for
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single mothers in the community to get the things the larger cities like Toronto. Generally people get they need. really territorial and they don’t want to see a lot of I think it’s really hard for many of us because mistakes or failures, but at the same time, if you generally we create communities with people who look at anyone who’s been around for any number are around the same age, who share a lot of things of years and they’re doing things which are effective in common. I think this helps in a way because that or successful it’s probably because of a lot of failure allows us to take a lot more risks than we might and a lot of mistakes. otherwise and allows us to feel like we have a group or support base to take those risks. But on the flip Any last words? side of that, it’s important for me to remember What’s important is that the activist community that I’m in a different place than other people and not have a rosy idea that we just reach out to youth other age groups are. Accepting that where you’re communities, and include them in campaigns, and at specifically is not where everyone thereby create these resistant is at is extremely important. Think communities of intergeneraof what you thought was relevant What’s important is that tional struggle. We need to or important or what needed to be aware that there are limithe activist community happen four years ago, or if you tations to this work. It’s not not have a rosy idea haven’t been involved in activist going to address a lot of the communities for that long, think specific things affecting youth that we just reach out about it six months ago. I can – for example, does the kid to youth communities, almost guarantee you that a lot struggling with self-harm have and include them of things have changed in your support? Is there space for the mind. You have to recognize that kid whose dad’s in jail ? That’s in campaigns, and there’s an issue of personal growth, thereby create these really complex and broad, and and that the things that may be there’s so much more work to resistant communities popular or comforting, or may be done to even scratch the draw you in and people who have surface. A lot of people, when of intergenerational common history or experiences to this conversation comes up, struggle. We need to you, are not going to be relatable say “We need to be like the be aware that there are to everyone. Black Panthers, we just have One of the best things that to serve community meals limitations to this work. ever happened to me was because I and do this and this and this.” was able to enter into a community But the capacity and time and that already existed, and had the space to try, and resources that went into creating those communito fail. We have to create space for young people to ties, and the repression that came as a result, should come in and fail, make mistakes. That’s something illustrate to people that that’s a really rosy world that a lot of activists struggle with, especially in view that isn’t really our reality. ∆
Organizing With Youth: An Interview With Dylan Powell Part 2 37
A Day in the Life of Parents Intergen. Movements
The experience of parenting can look very different, depending on a person’s class, race, gender and levels of support from family and community members. Regardless parents, you are doing great! Compiled by The Peak These are a few things that my Daughter and I try to fit into each day. Gertrude Callaghan: We like to dance, stretch, move our bodies in the morning. Try to celebrate the morning. During the day I try and foster critical thought, call attention to good instincts and get far out on creative story telling (each taking turns line for line). We’ve been talking lots about spirits too and that some folks can hear them if they listen. At the grocery store she gets to pick the vegetables to buy and she picks which to eat same at supper time. This seems to interest her in eating them more this way. When she experiences emotions/feelings I try to remember to ask her where in her body its
resonating. Hopefully then she can learn to both listen to her self/body and learn to move the energies out. We focus on the transient nature of pain. Before we go to bed we cover what we did and what she liked about the day, what she didn’t like in the day and what she hopes for tomorrow. I ask her what shes identifies as her strengths and then I make up a tale of the person named Isabel using those. Trying to foster a self made positive identity. And then before we fall asleep we list off people we love.
Anonymous:
12:45/1:30-4:30 Eat lunch, play games, read books, and deal with tantrums while attempting to get housework and work for money done. 4:30-6:00 Make dinner, do dishes, eat dinner. 6:00-8:00 Bedtime routine a.k.a. be the calmest, most organized mama ever and make sure the routine is NOT broken. 8:00-10:00 Kid is asleep, if I’m lucky. Cry, if possible. Then maybe I’ll make a phone call to a friend, maybe I’ll clean a little, maybe I’ll just space out on the internet while attempting to not worry about money, maybe I’ll get caught up on any work-for-money contracts that I have, maybe I’ll stare at the wall, exhausted. 10:00 My bedtime routine: skullcap tea and giving myself a foot rub, then curling up with a hot water bottle and my stuffy. 2:00AM Kid wakes up and needs me for something. Do my best to fall back to sleep easily
6:30AM “Mama, wake up. The sun is out.” Wake up groggily and cuddle until 7:15. 7:15-8:15 Use every ounce of will to get ready for school and be out the door in time to get to school. 8:15-9:15/9:45 (depending on whether or not I have to take the bus): Drop the kid off at school and get home. 9:15/9:45-11:30/12:15 (depending on if I get a ride): Do as much emotional processing and/or self-care and/or work for money and/or creative expression and/or housework as possible, as this is the only uninterrupted time in my day. Alternately, space out on the internet and dissociate from everything ‘cause life is hard sometimes. 11:30/12:15-12:45/1:30PM (depending on whether or not I have to take the bus): Pick kid up from school.
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Mia:
Papa P:
5:30AM Babe crawls in bed & we fall back asleep. 7:15 Fourth alarm goes off, time to actually get up, make breakfast for babe and while they eat, I get other things ready for the day amidst constant questions about life, both from him and myself. 7:45 Getting dressed is full of cries and disappointments, babe wants their spiderman underwear, comfy wake-up pants with pockets and a dinosaur shirt, which are obviously all dirty from being requested every day. 8:15 Leave the house and walk to the bus stop, too icy to carry the babe, so they have to walk, which at least doubles the time it takes to get there and the amount of tantrums. 8:40 Get to the bus stop get on the bus, but from the amount of time everything took this morning, I will miss my class. 9:10 Drop babe off at daycare with hugs and kisses and promises of picking them up later that day. 9:20 Get some coffee before facing the rest of the world. 9:40 Catch a bus downtown and walk to the old place… clean up and search through the bajillion papers that exist in my life to find a single form that determines whether or not I will get a subsidy for child care. 11:30 Think briefly about the fact that I’m in school and should probably check what’s going on with classes and assignments… but then decide it’s more important to find the form that would save me over $800 a month and to clean my old apartment for showings. 1:30PM Head (by bus or walking) downtown for a coffee date. 3:30 Realize the time so I head back up to campus (bus or walking) to make some phone calls and answer emails… grab a granola bar for baby and check what’s available at the food bank. 5:00 Walk to the daycare, pick babe up and catch the bus back downtown. 5:55 Get home and unpack from the day. 6:15 Start getting dinner ready, babe wants to play and starts inventing some kind of adventure that involves grabbing onto my leg like a monkey… too sketchy with cooking & hot stoves so I put on Curious George. 7:00 Dinner’s ready, set the table, mild tantrum about stopping the movie and not wanting to eat. 7:30 Dishes and quick clean up of things. 7:40 Hang out, talk about things, cuddles and relaxing times. 8:10 Pajamas, teeth, potty and books. 8:30 Say goodnight, babe gets up a few times, asking for water, for the kitchen light to be on or to sleep in my bed. 9:00 No new noises from babe’s room, so settle down and put on a show, check emails and course work, look at job ads for the summer but get super overwhelmed by near future life plans and decide it’s best not to do that right before bed. 10:30 Decide it’s a good time to go to bed, so turn off computer… think think think. 11:30PM Sleep is a hard thing to get even though I’m exhausted, so put on a boring movie… finally fall asleep.
6:40AM Wake up with a groan. 6:50 Read books with my three year old and cuddle in bed, slowly wake up. 7:40 Make breakfast. 8:15 Let chickens out, give them food and water. 8:20 Read some more 8:35 Clean up lego and other toys. 8:50 Vacuum, let my son vacuum, cleaned up cat vomit. 9:15 Set him up for painting and painted with him for a bit. 9:30 Play music on the xylophone and piano. 9:45 Play trains. 10:20 Eat early lunch, put away dishes from last night, clean the table, organize clutter, read the paper. 10:50 Pull him in a sled to drop food off at a friend’s house who just gave birth; they aren’t home so we walk back. It is minus 18 celsius today, halfway back his fingers are hurting so I give him my gloves. Cold! 11:30 Read books about animals, play “I Spy”. 11:50 Play trains. 12:15PM Make nettle and mint tea for both of us. 1:00 Put toques on squash and play silly games 1:20 Make more food. 1:50 Play lego. 2:20 Read some more books. 2:45 Partner come home, they play together, I write a few emails, do online banking. 3:00 I join them in lego and we talk. 3:45 We listen to a kids’ album by Pete Seeger, stretch, dance, and play flying trapeze. 4:30 Give chickens new water and food. 4:35 Put away groceries, make and eat dinner, do dishes. 6:50 Read bedtime stories in his bed. 7:00 Fix side door. 7:30 Meditate, journal. 8:30 Talk about my partner’s upcoming work schedule, make todo lists, sweep, clean up living room. 10:00PM Go to sleep.
A Day in the Life of Parents 39
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Changes An organizer reflects on dropping out, dropping in, and staying to true their values. by Anonymous
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t’s coming on ten years that I’ve been participating seriously about resuming the degree I dropped out in anarchist struggle against systems of domina- of when I was 20 years old. But I haven’t managed tion. I find myself spending a lot of time reflect- to convince myself to move on it yet. ing on the past decade, which very often turns into I have a desire for stability that I didn’t feel thinking about the ten years ahead. As I think about five years ago. I feel critical that my first instinct where I want to go from here, I reflect on how dif- in responding to this need for stability is to “drop ferent the questions I’m asking now are from the back in” to a way of life that I’d previously tried to ones I asked as a teenager. How will I support myself reject. Why does my desire for stability get immediand my projects financially into the future? How do ately mixed up with talk of degrees and careers? My my increasing number of criminal convictions affect twenty-year-old self wasn’t wrong when I concluded my capacity for action? What kinds of projects do that an uncertain future was more desirable than I want to participate in during the coming years? the scripted life of mediocrity offered to me by sucHow do I stay engaged within an anarchist move- cess under capitalism. ment that typically sees few people stay involved Often, a decision to seek stability in this way into their thirties? is accompanied by a rejection of radical movements I’m calling it my late-twenties crisis, and a – the language of dropping out/in demonstrates this lot of my friends and comrades are experiencing binary thinking. Either you’re a radical and embrace it. There was a moment where it seemed everyone the permanent instability that comes with that, or I knew had either quit school or had no intention you’ve opted for a career and accepted an ideology of going, where we all supported ourselves with that valorizes that choice. It’s a legacy of the 70s odd jobs, busking, scams, and welfare. Now a lot hippy activism that radical politics is viewed as a of those same people are applying to college or to phase, as something to be grown out of and looked masters programs, and I admit I’m thinking pretty back on condescendingly.
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Rebellion tends to exist as a youth subculture the words of someone who claims to know better. – this both causes and is caused by folks stepping I want people to be able to learn and develop their away from movements as they get older. Whether analysis and practice in their own ways. But the someone hits thirty and dedicates themselves to depressing activist dead-ends and the violence of the stock market or embraces a life involved a new the police are just two of the many hazards that job in a social justice NGO, the effect is that more almost every young radical is going to encounter. combative and passionate ways of engaging are left If there were more experienced people around who to the youth. As a younger radical, I often experi- I trusted and with whom I had political affinity, it enced frustration or confusion that there was no could have made navigating them much less painful. older generation to learn from (or at least none that I want to honour my younger self ’s pasI was in contact with) I want to offer two examples sion and urgency – it led me to quit school, avoid of ways that I felt this lack. employment, and learn as much as I could about When I set out to learn about resistance, I combative resistance. By following those passions was flooded with different ideologies by the so- I exposed myself to many experiences and ideas that called movement of movements of the early 2000s. I might never have encountered otherwise, and it In this flood, I encountered many positions that I forms the foundation from which I now decide my would slowly and painfully come to realize were not next step. I also don’t want to be trapped by my related to the desires that motivated me to struggle, past decisions, to transform the passions I felt into and were in fact often hostile to them. Why did it an ideology that reaches into the present to limit take me so long to realize that, for instance, con- the scope of my current desires. One way I know spiracy theorists aren’t our comrades, that they are to honour my younger self is to refuse to leave the disempowering and have their roots in fascism? anarchist space, to continue participating in struggle And why did it again take me more years to realize and hopefully one day be the wise older radical who the same of neo-liberal microI was so often looking for. lending NGOs, the Québecois To do this, I need to One way I know to honour think honestly sovereigntists and other nationabout my expemy younger self is to alist movements, and again for riences of struggle, recognizing party communists? I’ve seen the few lessons I have learned, continue participating in many people get bogged down while mostly being humble struggle, and hopefully in these dead ends and become about the massive questions one day be the wise older that remain and the need to disenchanted as they see their passions betrayed. radical who I was so often continue pursuing new ideas I also really felt the lack in the shifting social terrain. looking for. of elders around dealing with At this point, many of us have state repression. When I was experienced infiltration, we’ve 20 years old, I felt a very strong sense of urgency. seen attempted entrapments first hand, we have Faced with the scale of destruction and suffering, it drawn strong lines against statists and crypto-fasseemed that only violent direct action could meet cists, we have organized massive actions, we have the urgency of the situation. It is not my intention maintained low-intensity conflict during quieter to argue for or against any particular tactics, but moments, we have cared for each other through when I reflect on my 20 year old self fetishizing ELF hard times and inspired each other into the best arsons, I see the Cleveland 5 and the NATO 3, who times. We are only just beginning to not make “the are facing explosives charges after being set up by same mistakes”— all the most exciting conflict is FBI sting operations. I see the two people from the ahead of us. 2008 RNC who got framed by Brandon Darby after This might seem remote from the big queshe helped them make Molotov cocktails. I see Eric tions I asked at the beginning and from the more McDavid sitting in jail for decades after agreeing to immediate question of going back to school. But participate in an undercover agent’s plan to attack a if I anchor myself in a desire to continue resisting dam. There was nothing about me that was smarter systems of domination, to participate in an interor more savvy than they were, I’m simply lucky not generational movement, and to continue exploring to have been targeted. and learning, then the question of stability becomes I don’t want to make the tired old complaint a strategic one. Although I still feel a lot of urgency, that radicals are always making the same mistakes— I need to understand what I am actually capable I’m an anarchist, I want people to trust the author- of doing, and then strive to increase my capacity ity of their own experience, not uncritically accept through struggle. When I attack power, I want it
Changes 41
Intergen. Movements
to be a sustained engagement, a long-term comHowever, if I redirect my energy into buildmitment. I want to contribute to projects that are ing infrastructure, networking, and educational strongly rooted in their place and that are built from events while I get through probation, then perstrong relationships. To do this, I am going to need haps I can understand it as a strategic withdrawal stability— the permanent instability of the youth to build strength, rather than a retreat. Similarly, if culture aspects of the anarchist movement will make it I approach the pursuit of financial stability in referharder to move in the strategic direction I want to go. ence to these projects, I can smash the binary logic I think of all the conversations I’ve had about of dropping out/in. For instance, if I go to school not selling out or giving up, all the ways my friends to study languages and translation, it will create and I have pledged to hold each other accountable. opportunities to build international relationships Of course none of us can see clearly enough to say of solidarity and also to connect with non-english for certain that a particular path is “selling out”— speakers locally. And when some of the projects there aren’t many people around who know what that feel most important to me in the moment are it means to consider a social centres, publications, second decade of anarand prisoner support funds, When I attack power, I want it chist struggle. The old having a reliable income to be a sustained engagement, becomes a part of a broader youth culture reference points that kept us out of strategy. a long-term commitment. I schools and jobs through Releasing some of the want to contribute to projects our twenties may not pressure of urgency has made that are strongly rooted in their it more possible to engage in serve us as well into our thirties. This involves, place and that are built from these ways. My 20 year old self then, a new recognition would have had a hard time strong relationships. To do this, with the prospect of stepping of our lack of elders, and I am going to need stablility. a deeper appreciation for back for a couple of years, or the handful of people with seeing financial stability who, in their late thirties and forties, are just as within capitalism as an aspect of struggle. I don’t engaged as they were in their twenties. want to reject urgency, or to see my past choices as It’s a big deal for me to recognize my desire errors— I was simply making different choices in a for stability as being valid, but that doesn’t necessar- different moment, and choosing another path in the ily give me any clarity about how to act. I do know present is in no way a break with the values I held. that when I choose a course of action, I want it to I still believe it is madness to wait, that my flow from a genuine passion. Even if it looks like actions need to be ends in themselves, and that a college program or some shitty job, I want it to compromising with power is a good way to lose be clearly in reference to my own projects, not just track of yourself. But now I also bring to this an because it seems like the only option. appreciation of capacity building, a clearer sense of As well, my current criminal charges are likely what my skills are, a stronger crew of people to colto leave me on some form of probation for a couple laborate with, and greater self-confidence and inner of years, and with my prior convictions, it feels strength. I want to share experiences, keep learnnonstrategic to get arrested for breach. This might ing, and engage in sustained struggle – if I centre mean stepping back from some of the more con- these desires, then I can be confident in pursuing frontational aspects of struggle, which is of course stability without retreating, dropping back in, or exactly what the state wants. And they would love selling out. ∆ nothing more than if I stepped back from struggle and into a career.
42 The Peak Intergenerational Movements
www.guelphpeak.org
Spring News Briefs: January 9th to March 17th, 2014 by Bryan Hill, Allison Parker & Peggy Karamazov January 9 Vancouver, BC: Anarchists used an incendiary device to damage an HSBC bank in East Hastings. The action was claimed in solidarity with the 5E comrades arrested in México and indigenous land defenders in Elsipogtog.
January 13 St. Cloud, MN: CeCe Mcdonald, a trans woman of colour charged with second degree manslaughter was released from prison after spending 21 months behind bars. CeCe was arrested after defending herself and her friends from a transphobic attack outside of a bar June 5th, 2011.
Michoacan, México: Members of the Self Defence Group of Aguila have released their first public statement regarding their decision to self-organize a community guard to expel The Knights Templar cartel and other organized crime from their town. The cartel forces residents to pay “fees” under the threat of violence and death and used intimidation to secure a sympathetic shadow official in municipal elections.
January 20
Photos March 15th Demonstration against police brutality by David Rees; March 12th Solidarity with Tyendinaga blockade in Toronto by Nicky Young
January 25 Otterburne, MB: A natural gas pipeline has exploded sending fire plumes hundreds of meters into the air, leaving more than 4000 people without power. The fires burned for more than 12 hours.
January 28 New York City, NY: Grand Jury resister Jerry Koch was released after eight months imprisonment for refusing to testify. The Grand Jury was convened to investigate the bombing of an army recruitment centre in Times Square.
Shediac, NB: Mi’kmaq Warriors Aaron Francis and Germain Jr. Breau continue to be denied access to their spiritual practices, February 3 like, smudging. While being held in the Toronto, ON: Richard Morano pled guilty January 14 Southeast Regional Correctional Center to six charges related to the riot during Kamloops, BC: The Secwepemc Women’s since the RCMP raid of a Mi’kmaq block- the G20 conference in 2010. His sentence Warrior Society disrupted a meeting held ade on October 17th. includes seven months in prison, two years between the government, chief and band probation and $3000 in restitution. council to discuss Kinder Morgan’s Trans January 21 Asubpeeschoseewagong Territory: Mountain Pipeline Expansion. Bloomington, IN: A yuppie business Grassy Narrows First Nations are on in the city’s centre had its locks glued by alert for logging trucks after the Ontario January 17 anarchists. The action was taken against MNR finalized a 10 year forest manageBloomington, IN: Several police cars gentrification in the core of the city and in ment plan in December 2013. Grassy parked outside of a police substation were solidarity with the 5E comrades in México. Narrows is the home of the longest rundamaged by anarchists with rocks. The ning First Nations blockade in Canada. action was claimed in solidarity with the January 23 More on this struggle on page 12. 5E comrades in Mexico and the prisoner Nelson, BC: Members of the Sinixt First strike in Westville, Indiana. Nation and supporters are maintaining February 5 Cayoose Creek, BC: Members of the a low-key blockade on a Pass Creek log- Toronto, ON: A group calling itself Sports Lillooet First Nations erected a blockade ging road near Nelson. BC Timber Sales Without War created a spoof website proon Cayoose Creek, near the Fraser River awarded a license to Porcupine Wood claiming that the Toronto Maple Leafs where they say that construction of a water Products of Salmo to build 1.8 kilometers annual Forces Appreciation Night would intake on land claimed by the Sekw’el’was of road and harvest 15,250 square meters be honouring, “both Canadian soldiers has the potential to wipe out spawning of timber in an area the Sinixt First Nation AND the innocent civilians killed in the beds used by coho, steelhead, chinook, consider archaeologically sensitive and that war [in Afghanistan].” The website went pink, sockeye and bull trout. has been contracted without consultation. viral before being rebuked. Spring News Briefs 43
News From the Front Lines
February 5
February 13
February 17
Wet’suwet’en Territory: Members of the Wet’suwet’en Unist’ot’en blockade camp have released a call for support as the approved Pacific Trails Pipeline has begun construction.
México City: The 5E comrades — Amelie, Fallon and Carlos — were transferred from a detention centre where they had been held for 40 days without charge. Their terrorism charges were dismissed. They have been charged with “damage to property” and “damage to property in a group” stemming from a molotov attack on a Nissan dealership.
Oklahoma: Robert “Bobby” Charles Onco, a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and an American Indian Movement activist, passed into the spirit world after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 63 years old.
Paris, France: A revolt broke out in the Vincennes Immigration Detention Centre against the deportation of a detainee. Security cameras, doors, furniture and fire extinguishers were destroyed or thrown at the police. In 2008 during another revolt the whole facility was lit on fire and damaged. Toronto, ON: Joel Bitar was sentenced to 20 months in prison for his role in the riots during the G20 meeting in 2010. Joel pled guilty to twelve counts of mischief over 5000 dollars. Kevin Chianella pled to 16 counts and received a 2 year sentence in a federal penitentiary. Halifax, NS: Calls for a national inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women were renewed after Inuk student Loretta Saunders disappeared (her body was found a week later). Saunders was writing her thesis on murdered and missing indigenous women at the time of her death.
February 11
February 14
February 7 Southern Ontario: Enbridge’s 57 year-old Line 7 pipeline has been approved to carry 40,000 more barrels a day. This brings its total capacity to 180,000 barrels a day. The National Energy Board approved this increase without any public hearings or consultation.
February 10
Seattle, WA: A Demonstration was held Paris, France: Anarchists lit fireworks outside of the Méxican Consulate in solidar- in a solidarity demonstration outside of ity with the 5E comrades arrested in México. Vincennes Immigration Detention Centre Toronto, ON: Avery Edison, a British following the previous night’s revolt. Two transgender comedian, was detained at comrades were arrested and held in prison the Canadian border before she was trans- for 10 days for their actions. A few days ferred to Maplehurst Detention Centre, a later. Anarchists broke the windows of men’s prison. She was held for 24 hours. three separate court houses in solidarity Southern Ontario: The federal govern- with the uprising. ment is stepping up its battle against the Occupied Canada: Vigils were held for the Mohawk tobacco trade by spending 90 estimated 824 missing and murdered indigmillion dollars over the next 5 years, giving enous women across “Canada.” The annual the RCMP new high tech surveillance Women’s Memorial March started in 1991 tools along the Ontario/Québec border. in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side after a woman was murdered on those streets.
44 The Peak Intergenerational Movements
February 20 Seattle, WA: Anarchists vandalized a Bank of America with paint bombs in solidarity with Grand Jury resisters in exile or on the run. A Grand Jury investigation was called to investigate the 2012 May Day riot throughout downtown. Montreal, QC: At least two police cruisers were damaged by molotov cocktails outside of the Ahunstic police station. A 26 year old man was detained.
February 24 Hamilton, ON: Sgt. Derek Mellor pled guilty to nine charges related to improper sexual contact with women. During the time that Mellor was leading Hamilton’s “Project Rescue” anti-trafficking initiative, he engaged in sexual acts with five sex workers. Mellor was suspended with pay in December. His sentencing is set for April 24th.
www.guelphpeak.org
February 26
March 7
Six Nations: The Two Row Times newspaper held a public meeting to discuss the impacts of the government’s proposed Tackling Contraband Tobacco bill, which threatens to criminalize the First Nations’ tobacco trade.
Otttawa, ON: Justice Minister Peter MacKay rejected calls for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, claiming that arrests of individuals allegedly involved in the death of Loretta Saunders indicate that the justice system is working.
“Since time immemorial, [tobacco trade] has strengthened our economy and has improved the quality of life for those on First Nations communities,” -Jonathan Garlow, Community member.
March 8
Montreal, police declared the march illegal moments after it started, and participants were kettled, arrested and ticketed.
March 16 Crimea, ???: The results of a referendum, which many allege was influenced by Russia, was 97% in favor of an independent state.
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territor y: March 17 Tyendinaga warriors and their support- Occupied Canada: A public consultaers marked International Women’s Day tion on sex work laws initiated by the by blocking a CN rail crossing. Matthew federal government closed today. The Doreen and Shawn Brant of Tyendinaga, five-question survey drew criticism from and Marc Baille of Kingston were arrested. some decriminalization advocates, who February 28 called the questions as loaded and misTsilhqot’in Territory: An open-pit gold March 12 leading. As one sex worker stated, “Our and copper mine has been rejected by the Toronto, ON: In the middle of a snow bodily autonomy is not a matter of public government due to the negative effects it storm indigenous rights activists used ban- opinion.” would have on Fish Lake, sacred to the ners to blockade the CP railway for three Tsilhqot’in nation. Taseko Mine Ltd. has hours calling for an inquiry into murdered March 19 been pushing for this mine for two decades. and missing indigenous women. Haudenosaune Territory: Sacred fires were lit in Six Nations, Tyendinaga & March 1 March 15 Kahnewake calling for an inquiry into Seattle, WA: Anarchists vandalized a Occupied Canada: On International Day Murdered and Missing Indigenous Department of Corrections office with Against Police Brutality, marches were held Women. In Tyendinaga, the CN rail line paint bombs and graffiti in solidarity with in Hamilton, Kitchener and Montreal. In was blocked. ∆ resisters of the 2012 May Day Grand Jury.
March 2 Crimea, Ukraine: Russia’s military forces invaded the southern region of the Ukraine following the popular uprising which ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. International tensions rose as western nations characterized this as an act of war. Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory: 70 Mohawks and supporters erected a blockade across Shannonville Rd. as the beginning of an escalating campaign of direct action to call for an international inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls.
March 6 Canada: Despite vigorous opposition from Indigenous communities and environmentalists, the National Energy Board has approved Enbridge’s proposed Line 9 reversal and flow expansion. This 40 yearold pipeline has already caused 35 leaks, and crosses every major body of fresh water in Ontario. If completed, it would carry tar sands oil west to east for export. Spring News Briefs 45
Feliciano
Raúl Gatica is an Indigenous Ñuu Savi from Mexico and a community organizer living as a political refugee in Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver). This short story will be including in the upcoming collection Invisibles and Disposables. by Raúl Gatica
Arts & Culture
I
*
Temporary Foreign Worker Program
met Feliciano on a farm in Montreal where he raised ducks, and when his sixth son was about to be born. He began by recounting how he started his life as a wage worker. —I helped my father in the early autumn sugar cane harvest. I would grab the canes. A goddamned work. it makes you cry. One day I fainted. My father scolded me, because I embarrassed him: I, Feliciano all of a man of seven years had fainted. I felt sympathy for Feliciano. Those that have suffered the same hardships and similar pains, we know of what he speaks. I stayed in silence to spare him the shame of continuing his story, but he was already on his way. —Upset, my father left me in an ant-hill. He said that these savage ants would teach me to not be a quitter. My mom rescued me half-dead. I spent weeks in delirium with a fever. Feliciano’s story was a hard hit to my comfortable life, but I kept listening. He confided in me how hard it was to work like a beast. He never had anything and that is why he entered the ‘program’*. The contractors talked about marvellous things. They said the greenhouses paid overtime or extra hours; that the houses where they would stay are luxurious; that in the Canadian fields, one almost picked dollars instead of pumpkins, broccoli, or lettuce. They said that the workers would return full of money. Feliciano willingly described how the foreman selected them, tested their strength by making them run while carrying 50 kilogram bundles. No
46 The Peak Intergenerational Movements
one was offended when they checked their health by examining their teeth like they do to horses. —Selected, I sold my 11 chickens, 3 goats and my little musical donkey. I had to raise 5,000 Quetzales to guarantee my place. He gritted his teeth and with sadness explained that his experiences unpainted the perfect world that had been drawn for him. —They warned me not to make errors or insubordination’s insubordinations? At the first strike I would lose the money; they would return me to my town and, in addition, because of my fault, no one from my community would enter the program. With timidness, he tried to avoid answering the question of what it means to behave badly. Finally, he was honest. —Joining the union, go to the support centre, complain about the boss, recount our problems to anyone other than the consulate. Feliciano knew I was there to invite him to join the union. That day I didn’t even try to show him the membership cards. Nevertheless, when we said our goodbyes I knew that he was fighting his battle. —And now here life is shit. Even for what we don’t have they charge us. And no, it is not true that dollars grow like pumpkin. This is the same as the times of the cane-harvest with my father. I hugged him with the solidarity of an equal, and I left thinking about how to make this reality visible to Canadians- a reality so close to their eyes and so far from their hearts. ∆
www.guelphpeak.org
Feliciano
por Raúl Gatica
C
onocí a Feliciano en una granja de Montreal 50 kilos. Y que nadie se ofendió que checaran su donde se crían patos, y cuando estaba a salud revisándoles los dientes, como a los caballos. punto de nacer su sexto hijo. Comenzó por —Ya escogido, vendí mis once gallinas, tres cabras contarme cómo inició su vida de asalariado. y mi burrito Músico. Debía completar cinco mil —Ayudaba a mi papá en la zafra. Yo acarreaba la quetzales como garantía. caña. Un trabajo de la puchica, te hace llorar. Un Aprieta los dientes y con decepción explica día me desmayé. Mi padre me regañó porque le que los tramites despintaban el mundo perfecto hice pasar la gran vergüenza: yo, Feliciano, todo que le contaron. un hombre de siete años se había doblado. —Me advirtieron de no cometer errores ni desobeSentí simpatía por Feliciano, quienes hemos diencias. A la primera falla perdería la plata; me sufrido las mismas desgracias y similares dolores, devolverían al pueblo y, además, por mi culpa, nadie sabemos de lo que hablaba. Me quedé en silencio de la comunidad entraría al programa. para ahorrarle la pena de seguir contando, pero él Con timidez intento evadir la respuesta a que ya estaba encarrerado. significaba portarse mal. Finalmente se sincero. —Encabronado, mi papá me dejó en un hormiguero. —Juntarse con el Sindicato, ir al Centro de Apoyo, Dijo que esas hormigas bravas me enseñarían a no quejarse del patrón, contar nuestros problemas a andar de rajón. Me rescató medio muerto mi mamá. gente distinta del Consulado. Pasé semanas con calentura y desvariando. Feliciano sabía que estaba ahí para invitarlo al La historia de Feliciano era golpe seco a mi sindicato, pero ese día ni siquiera intenté mostrarle vida cómoda pero seguí escuchándolo. Me confío las tarjetas. Sin embargo, al despedirnos supe que que pese a trabajar como bestia, nunca había tenido libraba su batalla. nada y por eso entró al ‘programa’. —Y ahora aquí la vida es de la mierda. Hasta por —Los contratistas dijeron maravillas. Que los inver- lo que no tenemos nos cobran. Y no, no es cierto naderos pagaban horas extras. Que las casas serían que los dólares nacen como calabazas. Esto es igual de ricos. Que en los campos canadienses, casi casi a los tiempos de la zafra con mi padre. se recogían dólares en lugar de calabazas, brócolis Le abracé con la solidaridad de un igual y me o lechugas. Que regresaríamos forrados de pisto. fuí pensando en cómo hacer visible esta realidad a Divertido dijo que para seleccionarlos les los canadienses, tan cerca de sus ojos y lejos de su midieron sus fuerzas al correr cargando bultos de corazón. ∆
Felician0 47
My Grandma’s More Punk
by Richard Laviolette
Arts & Culture
M
y grandma has been making quilts for as stay at her house for a week and we would make a long as I can remember. Usually she quilt together. would make a quilt whenever one of her Growing up, going to Grandma’s was like eight kids got married or when someone had a baby. returning to a place in a dream or a scene from a My parents were given one of those quilts when they movie. It was warm and nostalgic. We only went got married. I loved to wrap myself in this huge, there a few times a year so there was often a lot of beautiful wool quilt and feel the coarseness of the anticipation leading up to a visit. Grandma has scratchy wool squares on the front in contrast to lived in the same century-old, two-story, red brick the coziness of the soft cotton back. In the summer, house since 1970. For my entire life, this has been when it wasn’t being used, it was stored at the foot her home: hardwood floors, high ceilings, wide of my parent’s bed in this old wooden blanket box wooden trim around the windows and doors, an that dad had made. It was a quilt of many colours: upright piano, and a framed portrait of the Queen bits and pieces of old coats and jackets left over from hanging in one of the livingrooms. I stayed in the when her kids lived at home, from relatives long ‘sewing room’, the same room I always sleep in. Some passed away, or thrift store finds. I remember being customs of going to Grandma’s are playing songs on jealous of my parents for having both the warmest the upright piano, playing crib in the evenings, and blanket in the house and the most beautiful. I loved wandering through the spooky attic. The attic is the fact that it was made by my Grandma and that dirty and dusty. You can see exposed brick, insulashe made it with my folks in mind: a transfer of love, tion and rafters. There are parts of the floor that a token of her appreciation. A family heirloom. Not are unsafe to walk on. There used to be a body cast the kind that gets hung on a wall or kept in a cabinet hanging from the ceiling as you entered. There was except on special occasions, but one that gets used, once an order to the attic where each of her eight tossed around, and broken in. children had sections and each section was labelled I took an interest in quilts about five years with their names written on a piece of cardboard ago after my brother and I made a trip down to taped to the ceiling with boxes of their belongings Port Colborne to see my Grandma and learn how placed beneath. Now, things are picked through, to make canned tomato soup. It was a lot of fun. At and sprawled about. Still, there’s an ordered chaos the time I had been thinking about ways to be less and lots of useful materials for making a quilt. After reliant on capitalism. My Grandma was born just picking through a few bags and boxes, we were able before the Second World War and grew up on a to find enough old winter coats and tweed jackets farm, so I knew she would have lots of insight into to get started on the quilt. Over the course of the getting by without a lot of money. While thinking week, we slowly tore apart the coats and jackets, about other things I could learn from my Grandma, cut them into squares, and made them into a quilt. I remembered the wool quilt my parents had and When it was done, Grandma had it dry-cleaned, thought about how many other quilts she must have saying it was cheaper to dry-clean it as a quilt than made over the years. I decided to follow this excite- it would be to dry-clean each article of clothing you ment up with a phone call. We agreed I would come started out with.
48 The Peak Intergenerational Movements
www.guelphpeak.org
Grandma has always made the same quilt essentially. The front is made up of 7 inch squares, often wool, sewn together like a grid (11 inches x 13 inches) with yarn ties at the corners of each square. I love this quilt. I love how square and simple it is, but how beautiful and interesting it looks when unsuspecting colours and patterns end up side-byside. I love how the quilting frame she uses only costs 34 dollars for four pine 1x2’s, four C-clamps, and a pack of thumb tacks. I also love that her quilts are durable and will last a long time. After twenty or thirty years, once the seams start to tear and the back starts to wear and the yarn ties have come loose, you can still replace the back with new material and redo the yarn ties. The work involved in making the quilt is rather tedious, but often you do it in the company of others. You can do it alone, but it’s not as fun. I have probably made six or seven quilts on my own since learning how to from my Grandma. My style has not strayed too much from hers. I have experimented with different materials and sizes. I have made quilts with a corduroy or cotton front so they don’t suffocate you in the summer. I have made smallers quilts that I gave to friends as cat or dog mats. For a long time, I thought about the possibility of telling a story with quilts using the front as a storyboard. I knew this was certainly not a new concept, but I wanted to think of ways I could incorporate words or images in my own quilts to try tell a story. There are two quilts I have made with this intention, both for the Anti-Colonial Thanksgiving Dinner and both with my partner. For the first one, we silkscreened text and images onto four canvas squares that were sewn into the front of the quilt. They gave a brief colonial history of Guelph and the Indian Act. For the second quilt, my partner appliquéd four local herbs (motherwort, sumac, wild ginger and wild bergamot) onto squares that were sewn into the front. Both of these quilts turned out really nicely and I am excited to be more creative with my quilts in the future. I took a moment to think about other important things I have picked up from my Grandma by osmosis. For one, she taught me how to be more patient and calm. I have never seen her yell at anyone or overreact. No matter who she is around,
whether it’s her children, her grandchildren or her pets, she does not throw her anger around. She is confident, stern, and firm, but does not try to hold power over people. If she disagrees with someone on an issue, she will give them her honest opinion, but then will give people space to make their own decision. Second, she taught me how to be frugal and hard working. She grew up with no material excess. I always hear her saying things like “waste not want not” and “a hundred pennies makes a dollar”. She was really into making it yourself if you could, or slowly saving things up over time to have a useable amount down the road, like change, tinfoil, plastic bags, or fabric. She always had her own garden and canned all sorts of vegetables. She was always patching clothes and sending her kids to school with homemade bread sandwiches. (Mom told me they would try and trade their sandwiches with friends at school for white Wonderbread sandwiches.) I like how even though she is older now, Grandma still is still critical of what she consumes and considers its impacts on other people and the earth. Fi n a l l y, s h e taught me that it’s ok to be alone. Loved ones are important but you don’t need them to feel complete or feel whole. I was five when her husband passed away. Grandma has lived on her own ever since in the same big old house, until recently when her son and grand-daughter moved in. I don’t doubt that she battles loneliness, but she also seems content. She was married when she was 15 years old and raised eight kids. I think she came to appreciate the calm and quiet of an empty house. She gained an autonomy and independence that she had never had before, and it seemed to suit her quite well. She travels to see family, plays golf, reads, sings, goes to church, and makes a quilt every once in a while. I love the idea of passing on traditions that are both practical and beautiful: something to pass the time, to bring people together and keep them warm. I like thinking about where I learned the things I know. I like sharing these things with my friends and look forward to curious minds down the road to whom I can pass these things onto and tell them all the ways they were shaped by my Grandma Pat. ∆
I love the idea of passing on traditions that are both practical and beautiful: something to pass the time, to bring people together and keep them warm.
My Grandma’s More Punk 49
My Grandma’s More Punk (Than You Know) My grandma’s more punk than most punks I know You might not believe it by the look of her clothes If you asked her directly, she’d politely say no But my Grandma’s more punk than you know Money’s never grown on the trees in her yard She gets by with what she has, and she’s had to work hard She’d say waste not, want not, and cook your own food If you keep your hands busy, you won’t get the blues When you’re busy you don’t get the blues Old coats and jackets in brown garbage bags Stored in the attic and out of the way Ripped up and fed through the sewing machine The quotas a quilt for each loved one in need A quilt for each loved one in need
Arts & Culture
Many a time she’s been almost knocked down Fools and fast talkers try to push her around She stands steady like the trunk of a tree Her roots they are many, her roots they are deep Her roots they are many and deep
Above The Anti-Colonial Thanksgiving Dinner Quilt, 2013
50 The Peak Intergenerational Movements
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Why Are We Here to Die? by Tom Dusome
you and i can bleed a little while together talk about what we normalized in our cities and our towns theres foam on the creek again upstream puddles shimmer with oil and black clouds fill the air and everyone’s trying not to stare (chorus) why are we here to die? when you had all of the fun are we responsible for this? are we responsible for that? is this our home? or are we just visiting? my first instinct is to run away from all of this hop a train to montreal or winnipeg but once i look upon the face of the youth I know all of this will just happen again gotta be firm where I stand (chorus) why are we here to die? when you had all of the fun are we responsible for this? are we responsible for that? is this our home? or are we just visiting? i’ll leave my garbage by the door maybe i’ll get dressed and redress our wounds resent and refuse everything i’m told cause each time something goes wrong i learn a little more and i remember what my priorities are defend the water defend the land no fracking no tar sands (chorus) why are we here to die? when you had all of the fun are we responsible for this? are we responsible for that? is this our home? or are we just visiting?
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his song asks for an older generation to take responsibility for whats happened to this world up to this point. It poses a question to “my generation”: Will we still perpetuate mistakes made by our elders if we do not listen to them or if they are not willing to share stories and lessons? It reminds us that it takes a lot of brainwashing and conditioning of folks of any age to continue the destruction of the natural world. The song hints at the possibility, that conditioning can be halted if memory (elders) rage (my generation) and energy (youth) can sit together and forget for awhile the shit that keeps these elements separate. The lyrics are a reminder that I will be a role model for a younger generation as much as I have a need to have a role model myself. And while stories are passed on, recreated, and new ones are told together the outcome is a remarkable leveling of privileges and power over so that everyone involved can benefit equally and common goals are achieved.
About the Artist: Tom Dusome is a singer/
songwriter from Hamilton, Ontario known for his dynamic, personable, infectious, and generous performances. In concert, Tom often tries to include speakers, literature, and fund raising for campaigns he’s working on or which are near to his heart in place of his set or before the show begins.
Why Are We Here to Die? 51
The Living Grey: How Do We Think About Venezuela?
One anarchists perspective of the conflict in Venezuela by Talya
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t this point I have now had heated debates with and the future of the country takes the back seat both far-left and far-right absolutists on over the question of who will lead it. In the West, what is going on in Venezuela, the former we are stuck at a comfortable point in the history with a respected radical hip-hop singer and activ- of Venezuelan politics where frontlines are clearly ist, and the latter with an anti-Castro Cuban expat defined. Yet history is spinning along without living Canada. Funnily enough, the radical called us, towards new mobilizations that are reversed, me a neoliberal tea bagger, and the Cuban called me inverted, yet still the same. Representation is a starry eyed Che fangirl, both precipitated achieve- defined in two ways; “the action of speaking or ments for anyone who identifies as an anarchist. acting on behalf of someone or the state of being Nicolás Maduro In Venezuela we see a coming to head of all so represented”, and “the description or portrayal replaced Hugo Chávez’s the disparate strands of history that mix up ends of someone or something in a particular way or as as the leader of the and means. To what extent should we seek to being of a certain nature”. In our imaginings, obserUnited Socialist Party in understand current crises in historical contexts? vations, and engagement with Venezuela, we are all Venezuela, winning the most recent election by a Or should we judge them as independent without seeing representations. 1.1 per cent majority. pesky relativistic concessions? Where do we stand in Venezuelan society is highly diverse, a popular struggle when it seems like the choices are made up of Indigenous people, European setbetween a socialist dictator and a capitalist fanatic? tlers, African slave descendants, and immigrants. No one wins in a choice between the lesser of two The post-independence government featured a evils. The world is not black and white (or red), and rotation of two main parties, the COPEI (Social Maduro¹ is proof of that grey in between. Christian) and the AD (Democratic Action), This conflict marks the departure of ide- both populated by the affluent European setology from politics. On the ground, ideology is tler class. These parties encouraged a unifying abandoned completely as labels of “fascist” and of society under nationalist lines, obscuring and “dictator” replace ones of “socialist” and “capital- avoiding class antagonism and excluding much ist”. The substance of either party is less important of civil society from communication within the than what they come to mean to the population, party. Rising oil prices and social spending made
Analysis
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it possible to maintain the illusion of a class- representation; the representation of the people less and accessible society, while the media and by politicians, and the representation of politicians business sectors remained monopolized by the by the people. Models of political representation settler class. in Venezuela have always been flexible in meeting Yet slumping oil prices in the 1970s and and co-opting the demands of the people, demon1980s exacerbated class and racial divisions and strated by the surge of radical parties in the 1990s it became apparent that it was no longer possible and reflected again in the current conflict. Yet the to enrich one sector without detracting from the engagement of the people is transformative; Chavez other. In response, the country enacted economic was a product of the popular masses. Rather than measures sponsored by the International Monetary being the cause of Venezuela’s progressive social Fund (IMF), which eliminated the fuel subsidy that revolution, he was an expression of it. The popular affected everything from transportation to food left objectified Chavez as a concrete example of production. Levels of unemployment, informal- abstract dreams, and it is this object which drives ization, and poverty had surged, culminating in the current of today’s partisan clashes. the “day that shook the country”, the Caracazo It is not necessary to describe the transforof February 1989. Popular demonstrations by the mation of the MVR government as it took on shantytown dwellers in Caracas turned into a mas- more archetypal Latin features of populism and sive riot, which ushered in the National Guard and Caudillismo. Suffice it to say that the power of the left hundreds of people dead. elites had been steadily reshuffled within a ruling Legitimacy in the government was severely party that granted itself more and more liberties. undermined and hostility between the rich and Perhaps representative of this are some clauses in poor began to intensify. This the 2007 referendum; end led to a decade of political Whenever we view pictures the autonomy of the central turmoil and disorientation bank and give administraof people taking to the as the rate of abstention tive control to the president, exploded from three point shorten the mandatory workstreets our pulse races; five percent in 1973 to thirty ing day from 8 to 6 hours, the sight of brave civilians nine point eight percent and to allow the president using their bodies to fight in 1993. Society was now to declare an unlimited state unwilling to be grouped into of emergency. I elect to leave repression warms our the traditional “multi-class” spirits. However, reactions those fifteen years from the party structure, and new parfirst election to now up to have been different with ties emerged which appealed imagination while I paint the disproportionately to the picture of the current situathe Venezuela riots. popular classes. Any uttertion in Venezuela. ance of a neoliberal agenda among candidates was There is a chronic shortage of staples like rice, synonymous with electoral defeat in the 1990s, and milk, wheat, toilet paper, as well as medical supwhile Carlos Andres Perez was forced from office plies. An inflation rate of fifty percent has brought on charges of corruption and his successor Rafael what goods are available out of reach to millions of Caldera battled regular demonstrations, Hugo people. Caracas has one of the highest murder rates Chavez gained support with the Fifth Republic in the world, the rate of 24,000 homicides last year Movement (MVR). is greater than Baghdad´s. Government subsidies Chavez introduced a discourse celebrating and poor quality refineries are so expensive that the the dignity of the Venezuelan poor, and his platform country actually has to import oil, and government of a “New Socialist ethic” sought to redistribute owned lands are unproductive to the point where resources and power among the popular masses. fourty nine percent of food is imported. The 1998 victory of the MVR ushered in a number All this has been generally evaded and of open municipal councils, citizens’ assemblies, ignored by the government, the leader of which Community Councils, entrepreneurial co-oper- tends to expel foreign journalists who are critical atives, and land expropriations. Article 62 in the of his policies and suggests that citizens should try new 1999 constitution entrenches this new ethic, to eat less to be able to deal with food scarcity. The stating “the participation of the people in the forma- nature of old allegiances can also be called into tion, execution and control of public matters is the question when we observe reports that people in means necessary to accomplish the protagonismo the civil service are mandated to attend gatherings that will guarantee their complete development, in support of the government, and those that are both as individuals and collectively”. decreed ¨unloyal¨ face harsh penalties. And yet the This history presents us with two types of face of Venezuela that is most acknowledged by The Living Grey: How Do We Think About Venezuela?
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Analysis
Student leader Yon Goicoechea, a vocal opposition speaker in the RCTV protests, was awarded the Cato Institute’s Milton Friedman Prize in 2008
observers in the West is the seductive revolutionary pro-west allegiance. This has given definite color prose of a charismatic and departed leader calling to the protests as being unilaterally anti-Maduro. George Bush “The Devil”. However, it is merely politicians trying to co-opt The electoral victories of the MVR have been genuine desires for change into political agendas, as won at a smaller and smaller margin. In the 2012 we saw with the party overhauls in the 1990s. This election, Chavez won with a ten point margin, a far is why the Venezuelan anarchist bloc has taken an cry from his previous landslides. In 2013, Maduro impartial spectator position - because all revolutionwon with a meek fifty one percent in an election ary potential of the people for liberation from an proven to be fair. His first act in office was to call ineffective state has been channeled into political in the National Guard to quell opposition protests parties. Since the people rose up in the Caracazo to on the eve of this victory, the first time troops have demand an ear to their voice, someone has always been brought against civilians since the Caracazo. emerged to speak for them. History repeats itself This did not bode well for the again now as we are forced to sit Bolivarian Revolution. and watch as Maduro´s excesses Whenever we view pic- The loudest and are giving capitalist leaders all the tures of people taking to the opportunities to be made into marmost fervent antistreets our pulse races; the tyrs and all the authority to speak government voices sight of brave civilians using from populist platforms. in the conflict their bodies to fight repression Many are quick to denounce warms our spirits. However, have been those the protesters as ¨middle class¨, as reactions have been different if this de-legitimizes the protests of politicians with with the Venezuela riots. The and negates any genuine reason shady histories of left has stayed mum, denounced for riot. The protests started as the protests as a coup attempt, pro-capitalist and student demonstrations, like the or offered a number of analyprotests in Montreal. It is shown² pro-west allegiance. ses as apologism for objective that some sections of the student state violence. This harks back movement have been nurtured by to Noam Chomsky´s claims that Venezuela is the various right wing groups such as the Cato Institute, most democratic nation on earth while he uncom- and have been in vocal opposition since the Radio fortably addressed a tendency of authoritarianism. Caracas Television broadcast expiration protests, Our staunch political prejudices lead us to be even the 2007 referendum, and the 2009 referendum, more divorced from the people on the ground as but the student movement is broader and more right-leaning spectators. It is no wonder why people diverse than being limited to the opposition. The say that the far-right and the far-left have more in first student demonstrations took place to protest common then they´d like to admit. My Cuban sexual harassment on the campus of a small colfriend has recently taken to saying things like ¨for lege town, something that happens in every campus a libertarian victory!¨ while insulting anyone with a without necessarily being partisan. Theirs is not a socialist lean. The hip hop activist has been accusing right-wing protest, it encompasses all sections of critics of Venezuela´s rampant crime rate of sup- la gente, of Chavez’s noble pueblo, with very valid porting police repression of poor people, while not demands for a better country. addressing the fact that Maduro had arrested about History, that which was called upon to 400 protesters. Meanwhile, Venezuelans set up bar- absolve Fidel Castro, is again being summoned to ricades and the National Guard aims at civilians. absolve Maduro. But it is clear that the heir of the The lasting effect of Chavismo is that soci- celebrated legacy of Hugo Chavez does not have ety is no longer divided between the rich and the the charismatic and empathetic force to convince poor, but is polarized along partisan lines. Aside the population to unify and follow him through from engaging fiercely loyal civilians, still among even more concessions to an ever-distant revoluthe lower classes, it has created an aggressive oppo- tion. If there was to be an organic popular uprising sition from all segments of society that can now about the country´s many economic and social ills, legitimately take advantage of economic unrest. it makes sense that the time would be now. And The names of the combatting sides are illustrative as the death toll rises to eighteen, we can see how of the superficiality of both; “the Chavistas” are damaging the emotional investment of a population Chavez-less, and “the opposition” is an indefinite is in the wrong hands. hodgepodge without clear distinction or substance. Ever since the Caracazo, market-oriented The loudest and most fervent anti-govern- reform has been unacceptable to much of the ment voices in the conflict have been those of Venezuelan population. This is why it is so surprispoliticians with shady histories of pro-capitalist and ing and curious - and to some, unbelievable - that
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SOLIDARIDAD CON EL PUEBLO VENEZOLANO EN LA LUCHA CONTRA EL SISTEMA DE DOS PARDIDOS QUE HAN DERROTADO EN EL PASADO Y DERROTARA DE NUEVO! people are taking to the streets to protest a government from which we in the West hear so many remarkable speeches of humanistic socialism. The left has projected all their revolutionary dreams and desires onto Venezuela, and it´s hard to see them go. The Bolivarian Revolution is not working: great fuel subsidies are creating debt and inflation, and much-lauded civil collectives are empowering thugs. The government has been killing and arresting its own citizens and shutting down the internet which is enough to neutralize the past. We’ve got to learn a lesson from the way the “Arab Spring” seduced the Western Left into buying phrases such as ¨humanitarian intervention¨. David Hume would write about the ambivalent and discrete categories of cause and effect, and how we take as articles of faith the connection of things like ‘capitalism’ and ‘poverty’. We lose both our convictions and our drive to act when all we have to work with is the inference of a correlation, without actually experiencing a causation. The insistence of my righty friend and my lefty friend that I am at best ignorant of the conflict, and at worst confused, reveals of the destructiveness of ideology. We see it playing out in the molding of the conflict as a partisan struggle and not a revolutionary one. A New York Times article reported, ¨a student, his face covered with a cloth, kicked angrily at a house where a pro-government family lives, shouting at them to join the protest. Other residents rushed in to stop him.¨ This conflict is fundamentally between neighbors, not parties, and it is tearing apart a once mobilized population. For Western analysts, it doesn’t matter if the president is Trujillo or Mandela. When the line is crossed, the issue is that “the people are starving”, not that “the state does not make the most of natural resources for infrastructure or employment” or that ¨the opposition is made up of Capitalist vampires backed by US imperialism¨. I myself must abandon some of my own absolutism and take a phrase or two from Nietzsche - This is the “Twilight of the Idols”, and we must “Philosophize with a Hammer”, towards that “Dangerous Perhaps”, beyond good and evil and their metaphoric incarnations in politics, and beyond history where nothing is black and white. In an earlier time, Chavez had been deposed and detained by the powerful elite, only to be rescued by the outrage of the popular masses. Yet now, the opposition leader Leonardo Lopez has been
arrested on trumped up charges, and from the street there are different voices, yet curiously the same, calling for his release. Earlier still, back in 1989, people emerged from their houses to bang pots and pans on the street, on their own, in fact because they were on their own, to make sure they were heard by the politicians that were ignoring them. And now, those same pots and pans sound, but differently, at the demand of every leader wearing colors of red, yellow, and blue. The Torre de David is a great example of the revolutionary spirit of a people free from representation. When faced with a housing crisis, citizens took matters into their own hands to develop a thriving self-sufficient anarchistic community in an abandoned and unused skyscraper. They police themselves, repair and build units themselves, and supply their own water and power, all without the government´s hand. George Ciccariello-Maher has been an active voice on the conflict, testifying to the magnitude of revolutionary fervor that survives untainted after its strangulation and dilution by politics. He opines that the community councils, the 40,000 participatory democratic institutions, are the only way out of what is otherwise a dead end. I am less hopeful- these groups get their funding primarily from the government. This fragment from his article in The Nation is a warning of history’s vicious cycle, a forecast of the dialectic, and an appeal to a new rhizomatic formation; “It is the point at which the Bolivarian process itself, socialism in a capitalist society, thriving direct democracy in a liberal democratic shell, cannot survive without pressing decisively toward one side or the other: more socialist, more democratic, in short, more radical. This is not a crossroads simply between two possible forms of government from above: the Maduro government or its hypothetical right-wing alternative. It is instead a question of either pressing forward the task of building a revolutionary society, or handing the future back to those who can think of nothing but the past, and who will seek to fold the historical dialectic back onto itself, beaten and bloody if necessary.” ∆
SOLIDARITY TO THE VENEZUELAN PEOPLE TO FIGHT THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM THAT THEY HAVE DEFEATED IN THE PAST AND WILL DEFEAT AGAIN! The Living Grey: How Do We Think About Venezuela?
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Reviews context of the situations in the storyline us live, byron sings about the terrain commakes sense; but one cannot forget that prised of idealism, defeat, contradictions, this is only one kind of sex work among community, dysfunctional relationships many. and affinity in neat melodies, joyful noises Overall The Dirt Chronicles is a great and the occasional grunt. story that validates and exposes important All right; cue the tears, here comes issues within communities living unvali- “it breaks my heart”. A song about watchdated by society. ∆ ing someone you love get arrested and go to prison. Also in there is some heartfelt Burn Pile rage about police, infiltration, resistance, by byron. (Self Published 2013) passion and prisons. It highlights, whilst Reviewed by Amber Holland also glorifying, the pitiful nature of resishe other week I took a trip to KW tance. I had someone I love dear to me The Dirt Chronicles which is about a half hour away go to prison for a year following the G20 by Kristyn Dunnion from Guelph. In a car filled to the protests, I remember taking the trip to visit (Arsenal Pulp Press 2011) brim with my own anxiety and a sinking him and always listening to this song right Reviewed by e.war gut feeling of loneliness (I was on my way before getting there, and right after leaving he Dirt Chronicles starts out as to do sex work in a city I had never worked there. It made me cry every time, but also stories about unrelated folks in/did not want to work in). When I made me feel less alone, and reminded me living in unrelated cities but placed the CD Burn Pile by byron into my about how important it is to resist even at quickly builds into a dramatic and violent CD player, I cracked the window to let it all the expense of isolation, because resistance, crescendo. The queer love and relation- out. Its corny as fuck, but in the half hour is the only way to combat isolation... just ships in this book are crafted with care and between here and KW I cried, laughed and listen, you may get what I am saying. respect. The themes in The Dirt Chronicles felt extremely annoyed with rage directed To explain the reactions I had to deal with deep emotions that stir with in at police, Line 9, byrons voice and prisons. the next song I gotta first explain that all of us. Here is a recap of the songs you will find if byron is my roommate, this song is about The characters that Kristyn writes you pick up this gem. the bumps that byron has on his cock. He are gritty, tragic, and real. They are young Opening with a earnest and youth- is offensively happy to share, in intimate folks trying to make good decisions amid ful song about the horror that is Line 9, detail, his experience with molluscum cona world that supports a corrupt and fucked this song reignited something that I wrote tagiosum. This abrasively catchy song will up system. Punks and hustlers, vegans and off as an impossible cliché years ago. The likely warm your heart, while it aggravates addicts, squatters and survivors, folks guitar in this song holds the angst and mine, realistically that is only because I am getting by in the Big Smoke. I found it urgency I think a lot of people I know have sick of having to use different soaps, towels refreshing to read about folks that don’t lost with age. And in the words of byron... and tea tree oil than him. walk the straight and narrow, that hate the “Fuck the state, fuck the dollar, and pigs, who experiment, discover, and live “Through the swamps, to the fuck the misery” for sure. forest, from the mountain to their sexuality and folks that live in the Oh yeah, smacked in the middle the mountains to the sea... “outer parts” of society. of these songs I described above are some fucking with the earth...whose In the book there is a theme that lovely ditties about the library, cultural got the power in this final hour, sex work (stripping, street work, and appropriation and navigating consent, all wheres their castle and can we escorting) is something only folks do near and dear to my heart! storm their tower? ...need I say in times of desperation. I find this one The last song is about an occupation more.” sided. It is true that forced prostitution against a Line 9 pumping station. This happens, and it is true that folks use sex song has a camp-sing along to it and will, as a means to support addictions, but this The next two songs, “how do you without a doubt, leave you yelling “fuck represents only some of the experiences of build a dream” and “how capital profits Enbridge and fuck the police” and possibly sex workers. As an ally of sex workers I find from crisis” tells the story of longing for shedding a tear, hooting a hoot and hating it disappointing to see the negative aspects a life outside of capitalism, state control, yourself and your friends a little less. ∆ of sex work used as a plot device. Placing borders, gentrification and all that yucky You can find the album online for the theme of survival sex work within the shit. Painting perfectly the story many of free at www.archive.org
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On March 8, following a week of action demanding a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women across Canada, warriors from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory blocked the CN rail line. This action, which fell on International Women’s Day, came the day after the release of a Parliamentary report which attempted to dismiss and deny the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and prevent any meaningful response or action. Four people have been charged for the action, with more arrests to come. If you would like to donate to their legal defense, check out the link below.
“Some 825 First Nations women have now been identified as having been murdered or gone missing, with a majority of those cases documented as having occurred in the past 15 years. ...We have therefore resolved that we will take whatever and further actions that are deemed necessary, to compel you to call a national inquiry into the crisis of murdered and missing aboriginal women and girls.” -Open Letter To Harper on Murdered and Missing Women
“The tears and sadness of the families left behind have not moved you to any position of compassion.” www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/support-the-tyendinaga-arrestees